.V 









'>'^a^ 







"^^ v^' 



,\v •/>. 















\> . s ' ' ' 



^^^ V^' 



"^^ v^ 



/\. 






.■v= 



".X 



■«• v. 



vO o. 






'^, .^^ 



.^:^ -n.. 






M " v^ 



,0 



.-v^ 






A 



^^ -^ 






0- V 



^ ^T^ 









'^ '^ * 











^ , V -* /\ 



.v^ 



5t. 



'■ <■ 



^0^^ 







■\ 







'p 



^ -^^^^i\^ 



■\ 



'^■i. ..■■■ 



^ 



IX 



UNNAMED WISCONSIN 

STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE REGION BETWEEN LAKE 



MICHIGAN AND THE MISSISSIPPI 



J. N. DAVIDSON. A. M. 



TO WHICH IS APPENDED A 






OCT 3 ]im 

MEMOIR OF \Q^ 

MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER 



Mll.WAI KKK, \V(S('().NSI.\ 

I'l'lU.ISlll.l) ItY SII.AS CHAI'M.VN 

IS!).". 



Copyright 1894 

by 

J. N. DAVIDSON, 



f 



s^^ 



r)^^ 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



If, ill the pages that follow, sons and daughters of Wisconsin Hnd reason 
for deeper interest in the history of their own state, and for increase of honor- 
able civic pride, I shall be glad. But if any reader look for the indifference, 
real or affected, that treats of men and causes, good and bad, as if all were 
alike merely curious, he will surely count what I have written as most unphilos- 
ophical, if indeed he take the trouble to think about it. 

Most of my story is of a time when there was no Wisconsin ; when this 
region was only an undefined portion, first of New France and in part, perhaps, 
of Louisiana ; then of the province of Quebec ; next of Virginia, when she 
was passing from the condition of a colony to that of a state; then of the old 
Northwest Territory and, afterward, successively of Indiana. Illinois and 
Michigan. In the course of my study one thing has been made clear to me: 
They who first settled on this soil were not the founders of Wisconsin. There 
was a wide difference between those who would have had this region remain a 
part of Canada,- — whether under France or under Britain, — and those who 
established here the institutions of an American state. 

One thing I hope, — that good done by humble and unpretending men and 
women may, by these pages, become a little more widely known and that they 
who did it may receive somewhat more of honor. Their cheeks will not flush 
now, if we speak their praise. For one of them filial love has prepared a me- 
morial that is fittingly appended to the record herein given of her own and of 
others' faithful service. 

The knowledge that this work was in progress brought to the writer, even 
after the first few chapters had been sent to the press, certain material which, 
had it been found earlier, might have been better used. Hence, notwithstand- 
ing the awkwardness of so doing, there was reason to add some closing ])ara- 
graphs containing statements that properly belong in the narrative itself. 

Among those who, in Wisconsin's early days, came hither from a land 
that we can scarcely call foreign, was one who, by precept and by life, gave me 
a faith from which I have found no reason to depart; who taught me that 
"man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever;" who, without 
effort and almost unconsciously, showed me that the eternal things are as real 
as those that perish with the using; who, through all my life, has upheld me 
with a strong tenderness. They who read thus far will say "his mother," and 
to her, witliout permission, this book is dedicated with a son's reverent love. 

Two RiVKKs, Wisconsin, 
July, 1895. 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACSIMILES. 

RLV. CUTTING MARSH 

facing page 116. 
REV. .LEONARD HEMENWAY WHEELER 

facir|g page 165 
MRS, HARRIET WOOD WHEELER 

facing page 229. 
FAG-SIMILE pages of Muh-hie-ka-ne-ev/ booklets. See end of 

volun^e. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 

Settlement of the Northwest Territory — Discovery of the Wisconsin region 
— Death of Jean Nicolet — Radisson and Groseillers — Their Discovery 
of the Upper Mississippi — Voyage on Lake Superior — Their "Foi"t" on 
Chequamegon Bay — Their Explorations in what is now Minnesota — 
Return to the French Settlements and Escape thence to Boston — They 
enter English .Service ..... 1_() 

CHAPTER II. EARLY MISSIONS. 

Renaliis Menard — His labors with the Ottawas — His death — Claude AUouez 
— Jacques Marquette — Mission at t)eY)ere — Proces-verbal at Sault Ste. 
Marie — Nicholas Perrot — Accusations against the Jesuits — Louis Hen- 
nepin — Coureurs de Bois — The Outagamies - - 7-lG 

CHAPTER III. THE OUTAGAMIE WAR. 

Plundering the Traders — "Siege of Detroit" — Attempted Destruction of the 
Outagamies — Building of Forts St. Francis and Beauharnois — A Sum- 
mer of Horrors — Effect of the Outagamie War - - 17-23 

CHAPTER IV. END OF FRENCH DOMINION. 

Perriere Marin — Massacre of Outagamies — Treaty of Paris — The British 
take Possession of Green Bay — French Kings who ruled in the Wiscon- 
sin Region - - - - - - 24-27 

CHAPTER V. RRITISH DOMINION. 

Keeping the Western Posts — The "'Quebec Act" — Carver's Travels — Lan- 
glade — Events of the Time of the Revolution- — Dr. Manasseh Cutler — 
Ordinance of 1787 — Settlement at Marrietta — Witchcraft — Slavery — 
Events of the War of 1812 — Amei-icans take Possession of the Wiscon- 
sin Region - - - - - - 28-44 

CHAPTER VI. THE ION A OK OUR INLAND SEAS. 

Michilimackinac — David Bacon and his Mission Work — The American Fur 
Company — Expedition to the Pacific — Dr. Moi-se at Mackinaw — Mis- 
sion Re-established there — Appeal for a Mission among the Ojibways — 
Robert Stuart ...... 45-51 



vi CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. DR. MORSE AND HIS ERRAND IN THE WEST. 

First Protestant Service in what is now Wisconsin — Projected Indian Terri- 
tory — The "New York Indians" — John Metoxen - - 52-61 

CHAPTER VIII. ONEIDAS AND THE BROTHERTOWNS. 

Samuel Kirkland — Eleazar Williams — John Clark — First Methodist Church- 
Building in Wisconsin — Samson Occoni ... 62-72 

CHAPTER IX. THE MUH-HE-KA-NK-OK. 

Their Legendary History -^ Their Language — Settlement at Stockbridge, Mas- 
sachusetts — John Sei"geant — A Total Abstinence Movement — David 
Brainerd — Specimens of the Mohegan Language — British Gifts to the 
Stockbridge Mission — Wars with the French — Jonathan Edwards — Dr. 
Stephen West — John Sergeant, the Younger — Muh-he-ka-ne-ew Service 
in the Revolution — Removal to New York — Council in Indiana — Tate- 
pahqsect — Removal to Indiana - - - 73-108 

CHAPTER X. STATESBURG AND STOCK I RIDGE. 

Removal from Indiana and New York to Fox river — The first Congregational 
Church in Wisconsin — Rev. Jesse Miner — First Protestant Church-Build- 
ing in Wisconsin — First School-Mistress here — Rev. Cutting Marsh — 
Commissioner McCall — The "Orchard party" of Oneidas — A Booklet 
and a Psalm in the Mohegan Language — Letter to Jefferson Davis — 
Mission Work Begun among the Sioux — An Indian Temperance Conven- 
tion — Letter by Chauncey Hall — Mission Trip beyond the Mississippi — 
Stockbridge (Wisconsin) Built — Capital Punishment by Indian Tribal 
Authority — The Muh-he-ka-ne-ok are made Citizens — Divisive Religious 
Movements — Removal to Shawano County — Present Condition of the 
Tribe 109-145 

CHAPTER XI. AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. 

Legendary History — Trading-Station at La Pointe — Alexander Henry — The 
Cadottes and the Warrens — Alvin Coe and J. D. Stevens "Manner of 
Traveling on the Upper Waters of the Great Lakes " — Mission begun at 
La Pointe — Jeremiah Porter and W. T. Boutwell — Naming of Lake 
Itasca — First Book written here — First Organization of a COjOgregational 
Church in Wisconsin — Meeting-Houses at La Pointe, Congregational and 
Roman Catholic — Missions in Minnesota — Fight at Pokeguma — Mur- 
der of Benjamin Terry and Mrs. Spencer — Ojibway New Testament — 
Rev. L. H. Wheeler — Odanah founded — Mission Work by the Metho- 
dists — Rev. Alfred Brunson — Attempt to remove the Ojibways — Ef- 
fect of the War — Rev. Frederic Baraga — Death of Mr. Wheeler — 
Covenant of the Ojibway Churches - - - 146-174 

CHAPTER XII. — BY THE MIZI SIBI. 

Louisiana — Religious Intolerance — Prairie du Cbien — Fort Crawford — Mr. 
Lockwood's Narrative — First Sunday-School in Wisconsin — Rev. Aratus 



rOXTENTS. vii 

Kent David Lowrey — Abolitionists from the South - 175-186 

CHAPTER XIII. — AMONG THE MINES. 

An "Island in a Sea of Drift "— Discovery of Lead — The Winnebago War 

— Surrender of Red Bird — Dr. Newhall's Letter — Father Kent comes 
to Galena — Black Hawk and his "British Band "—War— Henry Dodge 
becomes Governor - - . - - - 187-200 

CHAPTER XIV. — Wisconsin's open door. 
Permanent Settlement at Green Bay — British leave the place— Fort Howard 

— A.G. Ellis and other Early Teachers — First Methodist Services in the 
Green Bay. Region — Rev. R. F. Cadle - Episcopal Mission — Organiza- 
tion of the First Presbyterian Church of Green Bay - 201-20C 

CHAPTER XV. — FORT WINNEBAGO. 

Topography- "Wau-bun"— Rev. A. L. Barber — " Portage of the Siskoin- 
sin"— Transportation there - - - " 207-210 

CHAPTER XVI. BY THE LAKE AND ON THE PRAIRIE. 

A Sloop of War at "Millwakey "—Threat by Robert Dickson— Joliet and 
Marquette — The Brothers La Framboise — Jacques Vieau — Juneau — 
Samuel Brown — Reports from the "Home Missionary "— Protestant Epis- 
copal Service at Milwaukee — J. F. Ostrander — Organization of the First 
Presbyterian Clmrch— First Protestant House of Worship for Whites in 
Wisconsin — Rev. Gilbert Crawford — Settlement of Racine — Scarcity of 
Food — Jesse Walker and Cyrus Nichols — Settlements formed at Kenosha 
and Beloit— Madison — Rev. -S. A. Dwinnell — His Account of Chicago 
and Wisconsin in 1836 211-226 

APPENDIX. 

Memoir of Mrs. Harriet Wood Wheeler — Ancestry — Education — Marriage- 
Arrival at La Pointe — Work there — Guests — Covenant — Visit to Fond 
du Lac — Education of Children — Mr. Wheeler Founds Odanah— Mrs. 
Wheeler as Teacher- Anniversary Days — Winter at the Lowell Home- 
Small-pox at La Pointe and Odanah — Medical Service — Odanah Train- 
ing School — Reservations Saved for the Indians — Removal to Beloit— In- 
vention of Wind-Mill— Death of Mr. Wheeler and a Daughter — Mrs. 
Wheeler's Last Years— Her Injury and Death - 227-261 

TRIBUTES. 

Memories of Home — Tribute of Mrs. Kennedy -Letter and Poem of Rev. H. 
C. Mc Arthur -Letter of Mrs. Mary Warren English -Of Mrs. M. E. 
Vaughn -Of Professor Whitney -Of Mrs. Anna S. Rogers — Of Dr. 
Roy _ Of Mrs. Mary H. Hull — A Neighbor's Message — From a Friend 
of Mrs. Wheeler's Last Years - - - 262 274 



Biographical Sketches of Rev. Frederic Ayer and Rev. Cutting Marsh — 
Chauncey Hall -Additional Paragraphs -Corrections - 275 280 



CHAPTEI\ I. 

DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. 

Not Ohio alone but the entire Northwest Territory received Christian civ- 
ilization when, 1788, April 7th, i the historic company of the second Mayflower 
landed at the mouth of the Muskingum. Marietta is a second Plymouth as, in 
some respects, Ohio is a second Massachusetts. For the possession of the great 
empire, part of which was thus entered upon, a series of wars lasting almost a 
century had been fought. We may call this the second War of a Hundred 
Years. Its beginning properly dates from the time when a great-grandson of 
William the Silent, representing the principles of his murdered ancestor, was 
crowned king in Westminster in 1689. The first Hundred Years' War, not- 
withstanding the brilliant victories of Edward the Black Prince, saw the Briton 
driven from the mainland of Europe ; in the second, the armies of the Fi^ench 
were driven from North America. The descendants of the men who conquered 
at Crecy and Poitiers were themselves victorious at Louisburg and Quebec. 
Then the struggle took a new aspect, and it was settled that those living in 
America should rule it. Britons and Protestants had founded a new nation of 
which Wisconsin is a part. Hence it comes to pass that we who dwell in Wis- 
consin are American, not Canadian ; Saxon, not French ; a fact that seems to 
be lost sight of in some academic discussions on the early history of our state. 

But the first whites who saw the western shores of Lake Michigan and 
the southern shores of Lake Superior, the first to row up the Fox and to float 
down the Wisconsin, were Frenchmen from Canada, then New France. To 
their settlements on the St. L iwrence rumors came of the "Men of the Sea." 
For the purpose of making a treaty with these people, whom imagination pict- 
ured as Orientals rather than Indians, Jean Nicolet, "interpreter and clerk of 
the gentlemen of the company of New France," left Quebec 1634, July Ist,^ 
and came to the Green Bay region, having made, it is said, a voyage of one 
thousand one hundred miles in a l)irch-bark canoe. To meet with suitable cer- 
emony the people whom he had come so far to see on such important business, 
he clothed himself "in a large garment of China damask strewn with flowers 
and birds of various colors," and went forward carrying a pistol in each hand. 

» The day of the week was Monday as was that of the landing at Plymouth. Of course 
both parties were led by men who honored the Sabbath. 

2 A date more easily remembered is the 4th of July, the time when he left Three Rivers, 
then almost the outward post of civilization. Nicolet probably went up the Ottawa. 



- IX rXXAMEI) WlSf'ONSIX. 

The -Men of the Sea" were the Oiiinipigou. or, as they are coramonly called, 
the TVinnebagoes. The sight of these naked savages must have been a rude 
shock to Nicolet's fancies. However, he made a treatj' with them, and went 
farther up the Fos to a village of the Mascoutins probably in what i.^ now 
Green Lake county. Here he heard of the -'Great Water." by which he un- 
derstood the sea, but which is probably the Mississippi. There is reason tn 
think that from the ^lascoutin countiy he went southward t:> the region inha]>- 
ited by the Illinois. In the autiimn of 1635 he returned to Qaebec. In De- 
cember of that same year, occurred the death of the governor of New France, 
the iUustrious Samuel de Champlain, the founder, in 1608. of the French colo- 
ny that has since grown into the Dominion of Canada. His death seem* to 
have put an end for the time to further explorations. Nicolet. still in the 
company's service, was stationed at Three Rivers. Seven years after his 
return from the West, while at Qaebec. he was sent for to come to his homa to 
save, if possible, the life of a New England Indian wham captors that lived 
near Three Rivers were threatening with death by toi-ture. Nicolet started 
promptly, but on his way up the St. La^vi-ence was accidentally drowned. 
1642. November 1st. The Indian was afterward sent home in safety. 

Nicolet's discovery, wliich he does not seem to have regarded as of any 
special importance, seems to have been soon forgotten. Only the patient labor 
of historians of our own time has rescued from oblivion the name of the first 
('i^^lized man who saw any part of what is now Wisconsin. We honor him as 
a man who came hither on an errand of peace and died on one of mercy. He 
was deeply religious. 

For many years the French were kept from farther exi^loration. Cham- 
plain, dying, left to the colony the heritage of war with the Iro;|iiois, often 
called the Five Nations, to whom the Dutch and. later, the English su^)pre I 
fire-arms while the French furnished their allies with -kettles and missionaries." 

Among those hostile to the Iro;|uois was a kindred tribe, the Hiu-ons. * wh > 
were utterly defeated and driven from their former homes. These were within 
the present limits of New York. Leaving their domain to enlarge the posses- 
sions of their conquerors, the Hurons fled into the interior of the continent. 
After the fiercest i*f the struggle was over, an expedition of thirtv'-one French- 
men, accompanied by a number of Hurons, started about the middle of June. 
1658, to go up the Ottawa river, and thence to Lake Huron and beyond. 
An attack by Iroquois turned back all the whites except two, Pierre d'Esj>rit 
and his brother-in-law. Medart Chouart, better known by their titles a.s .Sieur 
Radisson and Sieur des Groseilliers (pronounced Gro-zay-yay). Tliese two had 
made a compact "to travel and see countrevs-*' Radisson, the first named, 
though the younger, seems to have baen the leader. At any rate he has the 
advantage of telling the story, which he did, in perplexing English and very liad 

' "Qiielleshnr^x:" [word used of a boar etc. : "What heads of-hair!'T said the French when 
they first saw them; lience tlie word "Hiirons."— ^'harlevoix. 
Tliey called themselve.s Wyandots(r\'-en-<h\ts). .. 



DISCOVERY AND KXPLOKATK )X. :{ 

s])elling-. ill a naiTative pr()l)al>ly intendeil for the use of Charles II. of Eng- 
land. He and his companion made almost the entire circuit of Lake Huron. 
On one of tlie Manitoulin islands they aided the Huvons in a fight with the 
Iroquois. What followed Radisson thus describes : •'The dead weare eaten and 
the living weare burned with a small fire to the rigour of cruelties." Invited by 
Pottawattomies who were then living on the islands at the mouth of Green 
Bay and the peninsula between the bay and the lake, our travelers spent the 
winter with that tribe. *'! can assure you I liked noe country as I have that 
wlierein we Avintered." says Radisson, "ffor whatever a man desired was to be 
liad in great plenty ; viz., staggs. fishes in abundance, & all sorts of meat, corn 
enough." The aboriginal population of the Green Bay country was very large. 

In the spring of the following year, 1659, they visited -'an other nation 
called Escotecke [Mascoutins], which signified fire."^ These people were liv- 
ing where Nicolet found them twenty-five years before. Here the Frenchmen 
heard of "a nation called Nadoneceronon- [Sioux] which is very strong." They 
were told also of the Christinos [Crees, now of British America]. "Their 
dwelling was on the side of the salt watter [Hudson's Bay] in summer time & 
in the land in the winter time, for it's cold in their counti-y." The account of a 
great discovery is thus given ; 

"We weare 4 moneths without doing anything but goe from river to river. 
We mett several sorts of people. We conversed with them, being long time in 
alliance Avith them By persuasion of som of them we went into the great 
river that divides itself in 2." Radisson calls it the '-forked river" and adds : 
•Tt is so called because it has 2 branches, the one toward the west, the other 
toward the South, which we believe runs toward Mexico by the tokens they gave 
us." How far south they went we do not know, but speaking of the barbarous 
])unishment^ of a captive by some Indians whom they visited they remark : "So 
they doe with them that they take, and kill them with clubbs, & doe often eat 
them. They doe not burn their prisoners as those of the northern parts." 

The "forked river" is doubtless the Mississippi. "A beautiful river, grand, 
wide, deep and comparable to our own great river, the St. Lawrence," says a 
description made at the time from Radisson's reports. To measure the great- 
ness of this discovery we must remember that, with the possible exception of 
some wandering fur-tradex-s like themselves, there were at that time, — summer 
of 1659, — ;-probably, no other white men west of the Alleghany mountains. 

* CliarlevoiJt. a Jesuit traveler and historian, states that the true name is"Mascoutenec," 
signifying "an open country." Tlie Pottawattomies' word for tire was like their corruption of 
this name "Maseoutju." From them, it is said, the French obtained the incorrect forni and 
the untrue meaning. 

Francis S. Drake, in his great work "The North American Indians," says: " Miinhkoosl is 
grass or lierhage in general. Ishkado means tire. The only difference in the root-form is that 
hetween iif:liko and ixhko." 

- Nadowsie, an Algonquin expression signifying enemy. It is derived from Xadowa, an 
Iroquois or a Dakota : the word was originally applied to a serpent The termination in .sje is 
from niiidsie, an animal or creature. This term is the root, it is apprehended, of the French 
soubriquet Sioux.— H. R. Schoolcraft. 

•'' " His arms iS: leggs weare turned outside." 



4 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

For the missions, — even those as far east as the Mohawk valley, — that the Jes- 
uits had established among the Hurons, were utterly broken up in the destruc- 
tion of the homes of that people. 

Before our adventurers returned to the French settlements, they coasted 
along the eastward part of the southern shore of Lake Superior. ^ Thus they 
were the discoverers not only of the upper Mississippi but probably also of our 
greatest North American lake. About the 1st of June, 1660, they came by 
way of the Ottawa to Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence. Thus ended what 
Radisson calls his third "voyage." ^ 

In August, 1661, Radisson began his next and fourth "voyage." His 
brother-in-law again accompanied him. They intended to go by way of Lake 
Superior to the "salt watter" of which they had heard two years before. They 
coasted along the southern shore of Lake Superior, entered Chequamegon ^ bay 
by a portage across Oak Point, which is on the east side of the bay, and in the 
autumn or early winter, built what they call "a fort of stctkes."^ This was 
doubtless the first structure put up by civilized men in what is now Wisconsin. 
"There we stayed still full 12 days without any news. The 12 day we per- 
ceived afarr off some 50 yong men coming toward us. with some of our for- 
mer compagnions. They stayed there three days." These "compagnions" 
were probably Hurons. Some of this tribe, driven westward by their relent- 
less enemies the Iroquois, had first sought refuge on an island in the Mississijjpi 
above Lake Pepin. Driven thence by the Sioux, they came into the country 
about the head waters of the Chi])pewa. To one of their villages on "a little 
lake some 8 leagues in circuit,"- — probably Namekagon in the southern part of 

^ In the spring of 1660. 

^ Radisson's first "voyage," in 1652, an individual experience, was in the character of 
prisoner, a party of Mohawks having captured him in the neighborhood of Three Rivers and 
carried liim witli them to their village, where he was adopted ; hut he ran away. October 29. 
1653, went to the Dutch at Albany and from Manhattan sailed for Holland. In May, l(i54, he 
was hack again at Three Rivers. In July, 1657, he accompanied the Jesuit Fathers, Paul Ra- 
gueneau and Joseph Inbert Duperon, to their mission among the Ouondagas, which was clan- 
destinely abandoned on the night of March 20,1658. This constituted Radisson's .second 
"voyage."— Reuben Gold Thwaites. 

Radisson's narrative was republished in this country by the Prince Society of Boston, an 
organization named in honor of Rev. Thomas Prince, so long pastor of the old South churrh 
of that city. 

^ I use tins conventional orthography, though I do not like it. In the opinion of R(^v. 
Elward Pay.son Wheeler, of Ashland, a native of Madelaine island, it is peculiarly unfortu- 
nate that we get names used by the Indians under a Gallicized disguise. What seems to mo 
evidence of the correctness of this opinion is found in the changing of "Ojibway" to "Cliip- 
peway," and al.so in the spelling of the name of the bay mentioned above. This, by William 
Wliipplo Warren in whose veins flowed honorably Ojibway blood, is written "Chagouami- 
gon " ("History of the 0.iibways" Minneiota Historical Collectiona, vol. V.). The meaning, 
"place of shallow water," is given by Mr. Wheeler {Shell " the," yn "of," vnth "shallow [wa- 
ter]," mi a particle denoting specific place, kntifj "place"). Tlie italicized syllables suggest 
al.so his pronunciation (;/ like oo in cool; other vowel* short). "Shah-kah-wah-mee kunk," 
seems to represent the name as I heard it spoken by Rev. John Clark, the native pastor lately 
at Odanah. The last syllable receives the primary accent. Mr. Wluieler, whose boyliood was 
spent among the Ojibways, in the mission that Mr. Warren's father helped to found, thinks 
tliat tilt! younger Warren's proiumciation of the name was like his own as given above. 

4 This may have been at the mouth of Whittlesey creek, about three miles from Ashland 
and between that city and Washburn. See note on the place of Allouez's mission, page 11 



DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION. r, 

what is now Bayfield county, — came the Frenchmen accompanied by friends 
who had visited the "fort." "The winter conies on, that warns us; the snow 
begins to fall, soe we must retire from the place to seeke our living in the 
woods. Soe away we goe, but not all to the same place. Butt let where we 
will, we can not escape the myghty hand of God, that disposes us as he pleases, 
and who chastes us a good & a common loving ffather, and not as our sins doe 
deserve." Among the Hurons with whom they were spending the winter there 
was distress for want of food. "To augment our misery we receive news of 
the Octanaks [Ottawas] "who weare about a hundred and fifty with their fam- 
ilies. They had [had] a quarrell with the hurrons in the Isle where we had 
come from some years before in the lake of the stairing hairs ^ [Huron]. "But 
lett us see if they have brouglit anything to subsist withall. But they were 
worse provided than we ; having no huntsmen they are reduced to famine." 

Oar travelers wandered westward and were the first white men to enter 
what is now Minnesota. Before winter was over they were in the country of 
the Dakotas, otherwise called Sioux, a little south-of-west from Lake Superior, 
in the Mille Lacs region, whose streams are tributary to the Mississippi. As 
to food, they were then in better condition than they had been. Yet there was 
still such a degree of famine that some of the company saved the snow upon 
which fell the blood of a half-starved dog which Radisson killed one night for 
food, having previously stolen the wretched creature from two Sioux as they lay 
asleep. More than five hundred Hurons and Ottawas died that winter of star- 
vation. 

In the late winter or early spring, they visited "the nation of the beefe" 
[Baeiif, or Buffalo, Sioux]. Thence they went seven days' journey, apparently 
northward, and visited the Christinos. The ice was still in the lakes. "Com- 
ing back we passed a lake hardly frozen" [frozen hard]. They came again to 
Oak Point which they had crossed the autumn before. "Here we built a fort." 
In August of the next year, 1662, they returned to Three Rivers, bringing 
with them furs to the value of 200,000 livres ($37,000). New France was 
burdened with a monopoly which sought to control the fur trade. Radisson 
and Groselliers, finding the governor intent upon plundering them, escaped to 
Boston. Thus the explorers of our Wisconsin streams and forests found ref- 
uge in the city of the Puritans. It would be interesting to know what they 
thought of the home of John Endecott^ and Increase Mather. From Boston 
they sailed to England. There Radisson married the daughter of a Sir John 
Kirk.'"^ Here, after the fashion of a romance, we might leave our adventurers. 



■ Probably, liair brushed or pushed up. Compare the speech of Brutus iu Sliakespeare's 
"•Tulius Ca-.sar:" 

Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil. 
That mak'st my blood cold and my hair to stare? 
'^ Commonly spelled Endicott. 

^ Sir -lolin Kirk (oi- K :',rtk) was a zealous Huguenot. The daughter probal)ly shared her 
father's faith. It is not unlikely that Ridisson himself, with the change in his political alle- 
giance, made a corresponding change in his religious connection. But I do not know that lie 
did. Like many another he probably lield, in a general way, the Christian faith without car- 



6 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

But they were yet to do some of their greatest achievements. They en- 
tered English service and, in 1667. led an expedition to the "salt watter" men- 
tioned ahove. There they established trading-posts and thus became active 
agents in founding the Hudson's Bay company which virtually controlled for 
two hundred years the northern, half of our continent, and more than once 
has vitally affected the history of the United States. ^ Thinking themselves 
wronged by some officials of the company, they again entered French service, 
sailed in 1682 to Hudson's Bay, captured Port Nelson, which they themselves 
had founded, raised over it the lilies of France and changed its name to Port 
Bourbon. This action was of course made the subject of diplomatic correspond- 
ence. Lord Preston, the English ambassador at Paris, thus wrote home, under 
date of 1684, January 19 : '"Sent to know if the kin^ had ordered any answer 
concerning the attack upon Nelson's post. I find the great support of Mons 
de la Barre, the present governor of Canada, is from the Jesuits of this court, 
which order hath always had a great number of missionaries in that region, 
who, besides the conversion of infidels, have had the address to engross the 
whole castor [beaverj trade from which they draw considerable advantage." 

Presumably his lordship had no objection to ••the conversion of infidels." 
But that •'the Jesuits of this court." whose ''address" he probably somewhat 
exaggerated, or any other Frenchmen, should have a monopoly of the fur 
trade, was intolerable. To put an end to such a state of things, there were no 
better agents than Radisson and Groseilliers. By the persuasions of Lord 
Preston and their friend Sir James Hayes of the Hudson's Bay comj^any, aid- 
ed perhaps by the entreaties of Radisson's English wife, they again exchanged, 
this time for good, the land of their nativity for that of their adoption. A 
second time they aided in establishing English authority over the Hudson's Bay 
region. Thus these men who have so large a part in the history of the exj)lo- 
ration of North America widened therein the domain of Saxon Protestantism. 

ing much for dii¥erences in doctrine or ritual. 

^ Tlius it is probable that but for its influence Briti.sh Col uuibia would now be one of the 
states of our Union. 



CHAPTEI\ 11. 



EARLY MISSIONS. 

In order of time, the brief, touching story of one who is often called 
Wisconsin's first missionary belongs between Radisson's third "voyage" and his 
fourtli. On the 28th of August, 1660, Renahis (conjmonly written Rene) Me- 
nard, who had labored among the Hurons before their utter tlefeat by the Iro- 
quois in 1649 and the blotting out of the missions in the same year, started 
from Tliree Rivers in search of the vanquished tribe, who were so broken in 
spirit that they hid even from their former teachers. He came on the 15th of 
October, St. Theresa's^ tl^J' to the most prominent cape on the southern shore 
of Lake Superior, Keweenaw Point, in what is now Michigan. No Hurons 
tliere; only Ottawas, who seem, like most other Algonquians, ^ to have been 
friendly to the wliites, with perhaps a partiality for the French, But these 
Ottawas treated Menard with a cruelty that might be expected from a tribe 

1 Though not the discoverer of the adjacent bay, Menard gave it St. Theresa's name. We 
liave here a suggestion, first recognized by the late eminent Roman Catholic ^listorian J. G. 
Sh(\a, that dates of discovery can, in some cases, be determined by the names that were given 
by the early explorers. This principle must, of course, be applied with caution. Thus of the 
Arehed Rock, Lake Superior, Rxdisson writes: "I gave it the name of theportal of St. Peter, 
h 'causo my name is so called, and that I was th3 first Christian who ever saw it." 

St. Theresa is known to souil^ by the fact that an account of her vision of hell has been 
published under the sanction of Roman Catholic dignitaries. Many "visions" of some of the 
saints suggest that the sub.iects thereof would, with a slightly different religious training, 
have made first-class "spirit mediums.*' We shall not understand men like Menard and his 
conuJcers unless we remember that narratives of the sort indicated formed no small part of 
tlieir reading and were regarded by them as almost on a parity with divine revelation. The 
"Uisser devotion" paid to the saints was not only a matter of religious observance, it was a 
dictate of prudence as well. For their aid was almost indispensable in contests with Satan, 
wliosc dominion the missionaries were invading, whose sub.iects they were eiuleavoring to 
wrrst from liim, and vvlio might be expected to appear hi tangible presence under almost any 
guise, in almost any place and at almost any time. 

'■^ The spelling given above is that used by the Bureau of Ethnology (Smithsonian Institu- 
tion). For the entire Algonquian (Algonquin, Algonkin) family Schoolcraft sugg<!Sted the 
t(!rm "Algics." Using this nanu-., thus wrote W. W. Warren, of whom we have ah'cady heard, 
a descendant of a Mayflower pilgrim, as well as of O.iibways: 

"The red men who first gr(!eted our pilgi'im fathers, and who are so vitally connected with 
tlieir early history, were Algics. The people who treated with gooil William Penn [with 
whom good William Peim treated] for the site of the present city of Pliiladelphia, ami who 
named him ' me guon,' meaning, in the (),Ubw.ay language. ' a pen ' or ' a feather,' were of the 
A Igic stock. The tribo over whom Povv-hat-tan (signifying 'a dream') ruled as chief belonged 
to this wide spread family." 

But -I. Hammond Trumbull says that Powhat banner, or Powhau't-hanne, denotes "falls 
in a stream." Also that the famous chic^f and his pciophi (l(M-iv(Ml their name from the falls in 
the .lames river, near Richmond, \'ii'ginia. 



8 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

some! of whose number as known the next winter by Radisson called forth from 
him this fierce invective : "They are the coursedest, unablest, the most unf amous 
& cowardliest people that I have seene amongst fower score nations that I have 
frequented." Of Menard's success or, rather, want of success, among such a 
people let the "-Jesuit Relations" speak: 

"Daring the winter that he spent with the Outaouak, he started a church 
among these savages, a very small one indeed but very precious, for it cost him 
much sweat and many tears. Hence it seemed to be composed only of predes- 
tined souls, the greatest part of whom were dying infants whom he was obliged 
to baptize stealthily, for their parents used to conceal them when he would en- 
ter their wigwams, having the old erroneous notion of the Hurons that baptism 
caused their deaths. ^ Among the adults he found two old men whom grace 
had prepared for Christianity." Here follows an account of them and of 
some good women who also became Christians. "Excepting these elect, the 
Father, amongst the rest of these barbarians, found nothing but ojjjjositlon to 
the faith, on account of their great brutality and infamous polygamy. The 
little hope he had of converting these people, plunged in all sorts of vices, 
made him resolve to undertake a new journey of a hundred leagues In order to 
instruct a tribe of poor Hurons, whom the IroquDis had caused to fly to that 
end of the world. Among these Hurons there were a great many old Chris- 
tians who asked most urgently for the Father. They promised that at his arri- 
val at their place all the rest of their countrymen would embrace the faith. 
Bat before starting to this distant country, the Father begged three young 
Frenchmen of his flock to go ahead to reconnoiter." Tliese young men, "after 
undergoing many hai'dsbips, finally arrived at the village of this poor, agoniz- 
ing tribe. Entering tlie wigwams they found but living skeletons, so feeble 
that they could scarcely stir and stand on their feet." Having returned, Me- 
nard's messengers sought to persuade the old missionary not to attempt the dif- 
ficult and dangerous journey. He answered : " This is the most beautiful occa- 
sion to show to angels and men that I love my Creator more than the life which 

' The " hundred and fifty with their families." 

2 We have the following with its delicious bit of absurdity from R3V. Chryostom Verwyst, 
historian of these early missious ia the Lake Siiparlor rjariou, himsjlf a Romanist: 

"As the early Jesuit Fathers realized the absolute necessity of Baptism for salvation, they 
most easterly sought to confer that Sacrament upon the dying children of Pagan parents. 
Seeing that their children generally died after Baptism, the natives in their ignorance and 
superstition attributed their death to Baptism, which they regarded as an evil charm for the 
destruction of their offspring." 

Mr. Verwyst is surely right in assuming that such a belief as that he indicates on the part 
of the Indians is evidence of both ignorance and superstition. The kindlier belief of the .Jes- 
uits, shared evidently by himself, that children dying unbaptized will be eternally lost must 
be regarded, of course, as evidence of wisdom and piety. But as the Indians were not to be 
blamed for tlieir belief so, perhaps, the Jesuits are not to be praised for theirs. 

"I have been most amply rewarded for all my trials and siiffarings," says one of the early 
•Jesuits who labored in .som3 part of the interior of our continent, though not, so far as I 
know, in the Wisconsin region, " I have thisday rescued from the burningan infant who died 
from hunger, its mother's resources inth3g3neril famine having failed her; I administered 
to the dyhig infant the sacred rites of baptism; and, thank God, it is now safe from the 
dreadful destiny which befalls those who die without the pale of our most holy church." He 
himself had been compelled l>y hunger to eat part of an Indian moccasin. Tiiis group of starv- 



EARLY MISSIONS. 9 

I Iiave from him, and would you wi.sli me to let it escape ?" " Some Hurons," 
continues the " Relation." "who had come to traffic with the Outaouak ottered 
themselves to the Father to act as oruides. He gave them some lu<>:<jaofe to car- 
ry, and chose one of the Frenchmen (Jean Guerin, a blacksmith) to accompany 
him. So he set out on his journey the 13th of July, 1661, nine months after 
his arrival in the Outaouak couatry. But tlie ])oor Hurons, though they had little 
t) cany, soon lost courage ; their strengtli failed tlirough want of nourislinient. 
They abandoned the Father, telling him they were going in haste to inform the 
head men that he was on the way coming, and thus induce some strong young 
men to get him. About fifteen days tha Father stojjjjed near a lake," perhaps 
Lac Vieux Desert on tlie boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin, " expect- 
ing help." But, as the Hurons did not come, he continued the journey. '"About 
the 10th of August," says the "Relation," "the poor Father, whilst following a 
companion [around a portage] went astray." It is almost certain that he was 
murdered. ''His canijj-kettle was found in a Sauk's hand, and some years after 
his disappearance his robe and })rayer-bo()k were found in a Dakota lodge, and 
were looked upon as 'wawkawn,' or supernatural." ^ 

Tiiere seems no sufficient reason for the supposition that Menard went by 
way of Green Bay and the Fox-Wisconsin route to the Mississippi and thence 
up the Black. The so-called evidence su})porting this notion is late, and comes 
from what is almost conclusively shown by Mr. Verwyst to be a mistake of 
Porrot's. Tiie ''Jesuit Relations" seldom indulge in the rhetoric of under- 
statement in s^jeaking of the hardships, dangers and achievements of any of 
their order. They call INIenard's proposed journey one "of a hundred leagues." 
But twice that distance would not equal such a journey as that described by 
Perrot. Nor does the narrative s])eak of any such discovery as that of the 
Mississippi. Its language accords with the prolnibility that Menard went to 
Lac Vieux Desert and thence followed the Wisconsin. This route was proba- 
bly also that of his three messengers whom, it is reasonable to suppose, he 
would endeavor to follow. " It took the^.i fifteen days to return to the place 
whence they had started." The village which they visited and to which Menard 
was going was near the headwaters of the Black river, perhaps in what is now 
Taylor county. If they went l)y the upper Wisconsin we can understand the 
stxtement that "they set out on their way to return, which was a great deal 
liarder, being obliged to go up the river in returning, whereas tliey had gone 
down stream when going to the Huron village." But this account does not 
harmonize at all with the theory that, on their return, they went down the 
Black, down the Mississippi, up tlie lower Wisconsin, and down the Fox. Mr. 
Verwyst thinks that Menard perished near the confluence of the Copper river 
witli the Wisconsin, not far from the present village of Merrill. 

Though the writer of the " Relation " thinks it probalde that Menard was 

iug figruros, in a wretched wigwam or, perhaps, shelterless, would form a fitting subject for 

tlic pencil of a Dore, and tlui entires narrative a tlienie for a Dante. 

' Ki'v. Edward Diitiield Neill, liistoi'ian of Minnesota and one of the first, if not the lirst, 
to labor therein under conmii.ssion from tlie Anieri<'an Home Missionary society. 



10 IX UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

murdered, yet he indulges the following supposition, wliich we copy as illustrat- 
ing a source of great suffering in the "Wisconsin woods : 

"Behold the priest left, abandoned: but in the hands of Divine Provi- 
dence. God. no doubt, gave him the courage to suffer with constancy, in that 
extremity, the deprivation of aU human succor when tormented by the stings of 
mosquitoes, which are exceedingly numerous in these parts, and so intolerable 
that the three Frenchmen who had made the voyage [journey to the Huron 
\'illage] declare that there was no other way of protecting themselves from 
their bites than to run incessantly, that it was even necessary that two of them 
should chase away those little beasts whilst the third was taking a drink. Thus 
the poor Father, stretched out on the ground or on some rock, remained exposed 
to their stings and endm*ed their cruel torment as long as life held out. Hunger 
and other miseries completed his sufferings and caused this happy soul to leave 
its body, in order to go and enjoy the fruit of so many hardships endured for the 
conversion of savages." 

Four years passed before the work in which Menard had lost his life was 
undertaken by another. Meanwhile Chequamegon bay became the gathering 
place of a large Indian population of wham the first to come were the Hurons 
and the Ottawas. The successor to Menard in missionary labor among them or, 
rather, for them was another French Jesuit. Claude Allouez. French traders 
who had been at Chequamegon bay invited him to return with them. He thus 
writes : 

"The eighth day of August of the year 1665, I embarked at Three Riv- 
ers, with six Frenchmen, in company with more than four hundred savages of 
divers nations. The devil formed all opposition imaginable to om' voyage, 
making use of the false prejudice these Indians have, namely, that baptism 
causes death to their children. On the second of September, we entered intJ 
the upper lake (Superior), which will hereafter bear the name of Monsieur 
Tracy. 1 After having gone a hundred and eighty leagues along that coast 
of Lake Tracy that looks toward the south, we arrived on the 1st of October. 
1665, at Chequamegon. It is a beautiful bay at the head of which is situated 
the large village of Indians, wha there cultivate fields of Indian corn and do 
not lead a wandering life. There are at this place men bearing arms who 
number about eight hundred; but these are gathered together from seven dif- 
ferent tribes, and Uve in a peaceable community." The particular place where 
he made his home he thus describes: "The section of the lake shore where we 
have settled down is between two large villages, and is, as it were, the center 
of all the tribes of the countries, because the fisliing here is very good, which 
forms the principal source of support to these people. We have erected there 
a small chapel of bark, where my solfe occupation is to i-eceive the Algonquin 
and Huron Clmstians. instruct them, baptize, and catechise the children," etc. 
The name of the Holy Spirit was given by Allouez to mission, chapel and place. 

• Jean Baptiste Tracy, then intendant of New France, an office which was desi^ietl to be 
a check upon that of governor. 



EARLY MISSIONS. 11 

This was probably where Radisson and Groseilliei's built their first "fort," or 
but little distance therefrom, i "What Allouez calls '*La Pointe d" Esprit" is the 
wide cape on the west side of the bay. not the part of Madelaine island now 
kiiown by that name, where the first mission established was that of the Amer- 
ican Board. 

One reason, apparently, that so many Indians chose the shores of Chequ- 
amegon bay as a home was that there they were at a safe distance from the 
Iroquois on the east and supposed themselves to be out of danger from the 
Sioux on the west or had not yet had reason to fear them. Says one of the 
writers in the '-Jesuit Relations" for 1668 and 1669: "God has found some 
elect in every tribe during the time in which the fear of the Iroquois has kept 
them assembled there. But finally the danger having passed, each tribe re- 
turned to its own country." However, the Huroris, Ottawas and perhaps some 
of other tribes remained. 

In 1667, the year in which Marquette was sent to found amission at Sault 
Ste. Marie. AUouez went back to Quebec, arriving there on the 3rd of August. 
He returned to the mission of the Holy Spirit where he stayed two years longer. 
In 1669 he went again to Quebec whence he once more came west to establish 
a mission in the Green Bay region. 

Jam?s Mirquette succeeded Allouez in the mission on Chequamegon bay. 
This worthy man, whose bad fortune it has been to receive more honor for the 
deeds of others mistakenly attributed to him than for what he did himself, ar- 
rived at his new station on the 13th of September, 1669. " I went," he says, 
•'to visit the Indians, who were living in clearings divided, as it were, into five 
villages. The Hurons. to the number of four or five hundred souls, are nearly 
all baptized, and still preserve a little Christianity. ^ Those of the Keinou- 

> The late Secretary L. C. Drapor, of the Wisconsin Historical society, believed that Ra- 
(lisson's "fort" and the mission of Allouez were on or about the same site. Where was this? 
One sugyrestion has been given. Jlr. Wheeler believes that it was in the southwestern part of 
Washburn itself. These are his reasons: 

1. There were two Indian villages on the Chequamegon ; one at the head (sometimes 
called the "bottom") of thi bay; the other probably at the mouth of Onion river, and .so a 
sliort distance south-west of Baytield. (A reason for supposing that this second village was at 
til? mouth of the river is that there is second growth timber there and not at Baytield.) Al- 
louez says that he set up his establishment " between two large villages." 

2. The Ojihway nam? of W.ishhurn, hanljd down from the earliest times, is Gah-nu- 
k wash koh-dah-ding: "that which was the place of meeting" (u like oo: a in kwitsh long; oth- 
er vowels short). 

:i. Convenience of landing. 

4. Policy of traders to have their posts outside of Indian villages to prevent collision of 
hostile bands. 

- This remark of Marquette's is suggestive. He and John Eliot, the Puritan apostle to the 
Indians, were contemporaries. After contrasting the wanderings of the Jesuits with the 
much shorter journeys of the Protestant missionaries, the hi.storian Parkman adds: " Yet in 
judging the relative merits of the Romish and Protestant missionaries, it nnist not V)e forgot 
ten, that while the former contented themselves with sprinkling a few drops of water on tlie 
forehead of the proselyte, the latter sought to wean him from his barbarism and penetrate 
his savage heart with the truth of Christianity." 

In speaking of this early work among the Massachusetts Indians, Bancroft says tliat no 
pains were spared to t'ach them to read and to write and that in ii short time the proportion 
of them who could do so was larg ;r than the corresponding number among the inhabitants of 
Russia at the presjnt day. And on the same subject Edward Fiske Kimball ("New England 



12 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

clie tribe ^ (an Ottawa clan) declare loudly that the time is not yet come [to 
emljrace the Christian religion]. The Outaouacs (Ottawas) seem to liarden 
themselves against the instructions imparted to them. The Kiskakonk nation, 
which for three years has refused to receive the gospel announced to them l)y 
Father Allouez, finally resolved, in the autumn of the year 1668, to obey God. 
This resolution was taken in a council and declared to the Father who was to 
winter with them for the fourth time in order to instruct and baptize them. 
The Father having gone to another mission, the charge of this one was given 
to me."~ 

At this time the Illinois were living west of the Mississippi. Some of 
them came to the mission. Marquette gives an account of them and adds : 
"When the Illinois come to La Pointe, they pass a great river about a league in 
width. It runs from north to south and so far that the Illinois, who know not 
what a canoe is,^ have not heard of its mouth. It is hardly credible that this 
large river empties pnto the sea] at Virginia; and we rather believe that it has 
its mouth in California. If the Indians who have promised to make me a ca- 
noe do not fail in their word, we shall travel on this river as far as possiljle." 
As is well known, this purpose was carried out in 1673 when Joliet and Mar- 
quette entered the upper Mississippi by the Fox- Wisconsin route as Radisson 
had done fourteen years before. 

Marquette's stay at Chequamegon bay was a short one. The last account 
of the mission of the Holy Spirit is in the " Relations " for 1671 and 1672: 
"The quarters of the north have their Iroquois, as well as those of the south : 
there are certain called Nadouessi [Sioux] who make themselves dreaded by all 
their neighbors.-^ Our Outaouacs and Hurons had, up to the })resent time, kept 
up a kind of peace with them ; but affairs having become embroiled, and some 
nmrders having been committed on both sides, our sava;ges had reason to appre- 

Magazine." September, 1802) writes: "It was the missionaries as well as the soldiers who 

saved New Englaiul." 

It is evident from accounts given by the Jesuits thenisidves, that many of their "con- 
verts " looked upon the rites of the church as a now kind of magic which it might he worth 
while at least to try. Says Rev. S. S. Hehherd, author of " French Dominion in Wisconsin :" 
"All revered the black-robed stranger as at least a mighty magician armed with a mysterious 
power and possessed of more potent spells than had evorljefore been witiuissed in the wilder- 
ness. One day a war party (among the Fox Indians) wcsre so wrought upon by the harangues 
of Allou(fz that they daubed the figure of a cross upon their shields of bull-hidt; before going 
to battle ; they returned victorious, extolling the sacred syml)ol as the great(\st of ' war-medi- 
cines.' This test convinced multitudes. It is the first rocordtnl attempt to apply the .scientific 
method to the verifying of religious truth." 

' Keinouche, the kind of fish known as pike. Of this name, a moiliticd ioi-ni is K(!nosha_ 

- Marquette made a fatal mistake as a minister of Christ. Hi3 allowed the Indians to r(i- 
tain such sacrifices to imaginary spirits as he thought weie harmless.— Rev. E. D. Neili.. 

•'■ "How did they cross t]w river?" is a natural imiuiry. I5ut Mar(iuette had in mind, prob- 
ably, the larger boats made by Iiulians who dwelt on the shores of th(> (ireat Lakes. 

4 These Nadouessi having b.-en irritated by the Hurons and tlu^ OiUaouacs, war was kin- 
dled among them, and they liegaii it with so much fury that some prisoners which wei'c m.-ule 
on l)otli sides were put to death by burning them."— Relation of tlw M/sxion of S/. Ttiiiiittiix at 
Misfiiliiiiackiriac. 

We wish th.at the record aildeil that M iniuette triel to prevent Mc l)uriiing of living inen 
by the Indians of his own pai'ty. Hut I find no such statemiMit. 



KAKLY MISSIONS. 18 

hend that tlie stDi-iii would burst upon them, and judged that it was safer for 
them to leave the place. They retired to the Lake of the Hurons. Father 
Marquette was obliged to follow his flock, submitting the same fatigues and en- 
countering the same dangers with them." The Hurons went to "• Missilimacki- 
nac," the mainland north of the island now called Mackinaw though the name 
was applied to both. The ''Outaouacs" found a home on the island of Ekaen- 
touton, now called Manitoulin. Not until our own Mr. Ayer came in 1830 was 
the gosjjel of Christ again proclaimed on the shores of Chequamegon bay. 
Then another Indian nation, the Ojibways, held the land. 

But before the mission of the Holy Spirit came to an end. another had 
been established. Reference has already been made to the large aboriginal 
population about Green bay. To the mouth of the Fox river or thereabout, 
came AUouez on the 2nd of December, 1669. French traders w^ere there 
ahead of him, ^ and on the following day, dedicated in the calendar of the 
church of Rome to St. Francis Xavier, eight of them attended mass. This 
mission, named from the day on which its first service was helcl, was main- 
t.iined for almost sixty years. It may be that Allouez built its first chapel 
somewhere between the mouth of Fox river and Sturgeon bay. In 1671 the 
headquarters of the mission were established where is now the village of De 
Pere (originally Des Peres; that is, "of the father"). 

Following the establishment of the mission of St. Francis Xavier came the 
formal act of taking possession of this continent by the deputy of the French 
king. This took place 1671, June 14th, at a great gathering of the Indian 
tribes held at Sault Ste. Marie. Nicholas Perrot gathered the Indians together. 
Allouez was there, and made an address to the Indians concerning the king 
in terms that lead us to wonder what more he could have said had he been 
speaking of the Lord of earth and heaven. The ceremony is spoken of in the 
"Jesuit Relations" as one "worthy of the eldest son of the church and of a 
mast Christian sovereign." These expressions are not meant for irony, though 
the king spoken of is no other than the infamous Louis XIV. who was so soon 
(1685), with the support and almost certainly at the instigation of Jesuits, to 
drive into exile thousands of his best subjects because they were Protestants. 
l!^ is a curious fact that one time the only forms of religion that would have 
been tolerated in what is now Wisconsin were Romanism and the various forms 
of heathenism that prevailed among the Indians. 

It is evident from the terms of the proces-verhaL set forth at Sault Ste. 
Marie by "Simon Francois Daumont, Esquire, Sieur de St. Lusson, connnission- 
er sul>delegate of my Lord the Intendant of New France " (Jean Bajrtiste Ta- 
lon), that he did not intend that anything should be lost because it had not 
been claimed. " We take possession of the said place of Ste. Mary of the Falls 

' Despite Bancroft's statcMneiit, in regard to the exploration of the interior of North Amer- 
ica, tliat "not a cape was turned, nor a river entered, but a .Jesuit \oA the way," tlu^ traih'r, 
almost without exception, pr(^cede(l the missionary. Profes.sor Frederick Jackson Turner of 
our state university stateil, to the writer hereof, in res^ard to this entire region, that he knew 
of no case in which a .Jesuit leil in the work of exploration. 



14 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

as well as of lakes Huron and Superieur, the island of Caientonton [Manitou- 
lin] and of all other countries, rivers, lakes and tributaries, contiguous and ad- 
jacent thereunto, as well discovered as to be discovered, which are bounded on 
the one side by the Northern and Western Seas and on the other side by the 
South Sea (Pacific ocean) including all its length or breadth." 

Nicholas Perrot, conunanding for the king at the post of the Nadouesioux 
(Sioux) took formal possession of the country about the Bay des Puants ^ and 
the upper Mississippi at Post St. Anthony, 8th of May, 1689. He called at- 
tention to our Wisconsin lead mines, discovered, it is believed, by a ^^revijus ex- 
2)lorer Le Sueur wlio came to the Upj^er Mississippi from Green Bay, in 1683. 

To human sight it would have seemed, in 1671, that the St. Lawrence and 
Mississippi valleys were to be closed forever to other than French and Roman 
Catholic influence. ^ We honor the early missionaries though they erred both 
in method and teaching and were the active supporters of an abominal)le politi- 
cal despotism, and the agents of an ecclesiastical tyranny which has justly 
brought upon itself the suspicion of the world. '' The individual Jesuit might 
be, and often was, a hero, saint, and martyr, but the system of which he was a 
part; and which he was obliged to administer, is fundamentally unsound, and in 
contravention of inevitable laws of nature, so that his noblest toils were forever 
doomed to failure, save in so far as they tended to ennoble and perfect himself, 
and offered a model for others to imitate."-^ The courage and devotion of men 
like Menard, Allouez and Marquette are the clean pages upon the blood-stained 
history of French rule in the region of the Great Lakes andtlie Upper Mlsjiss- 
ippi. But the Jesuit missions there were failures. To be sure there were 
many baptisms. Marquette who returned to the mission of St. Francis Xav- 
ier late in September, 1673, and spent there possibly the following winter and 
certainly the next summer puts the number at two thousand. In 1676, a chap- 
el was built at De Pere. This with the mission house was burned eleven years 
later, by hostile Foxes, Kickapoos and Mascoutins. There was no school house 
to burn. "No evidence can be found that the Jesuits ever opened a mission- 
ary school in Wisconsin before the American troops took possession of Fort 
Howard ."4 No doubt there was oral religious instruction. It is said, how- 



' "Bay dcs Piiants,"— Bay of the Bad Smell,— was the unpleasant name given to Green 
hay hy the French who first came tliithcr. They sometimes, also, applied the name to Lake 
Michigan. The reference, however, is to the Winnehago Indians, and to them not on account 
of their hahits as might well be the case, but because of the tradition that they originally came 
fi-om the "ill-smelling," that is the salt, water. " The Bay," says Marquette, " hears a name 
that has not so had a meaning in the Indian languag.-. as they call it Salt Bay rather than 
Fetid Bay, although amongthem it is about the same." 

2 On the western side of the Mississippi the profession of any form of Christian faith save 
Romanism was illegal until (1800, October 1st) Spain receded the provhice of Louisiana to 
France. In practice, however, there was tolerau.ce to the American settlers who even at that 
early day had found homes beyond the Mississippi. An inquisitor who came to New Orleans 
to exercise the functions of his " Holy Office,"— which a son of General Sherman thinks .so 
beneficient in its practical working,— was shipped back to Spain by (acting) Governor E.stavan 
Miro. 

3 Rev. R. F. Littledale, LL. D., D. D., D. C. L. 

4 Rev. W. (J. Whitford, ex superintendent of public instruction. 



KAllLY .MISSIONS. 15 

ever, that there was a school at .Michilimackinac (Point Ste. Ignace). 

But the pajan Indians were not the worst foes whom the early mission- 
aries had to encounter. Nor was the fact that most of their " converts " con- 
tinued in practical heatlienisni, the only charge brought against them. '> With 
tlie Jesuits the conversion of souls is but a pious phrase for trading in beaver 
skins." These bitter words of Frontenac, governor of New France from 1672 
t,> 1682, anil ag lin from 1688 until his death in November, 1698, show a feel- 
ing which he did not possess alone. La Salle accuses the Jesuits of plotting 
against his life. Yet it dulls the edge of these charges to know that they were 
mule by thase who were virtually business rivals, and that one of the points of 
ontraversy between Frontenac and the ecclesiastical authorities was in regard 
to the sale of liquor to Indians, which the missionaries wished to forbid. And 
I believe the frightful accusation made by La Salle to be wholly false. Yet we 
must grant that the Jesuits should not have gone into the fur trade. As it was 
thsir mission^ here cams tj an end under suspicion and reproach. The civil 
a-.itli:)rlties and rival ordersi within the church of Rome itself were alike hos- 
tile to them. Thus Ljuis Hennepin, — a Franciscan of the stricter sort known 
as R9collect3, — who, in his wanderings with La Salle in 1679, came into Green 
Bay 2 ignores the existence of the mission of St. Francis Xavier. This is the 
mare remarkable because in the following year, 1680, he enjoyed the hospital- 
ity of those laboring there. 

Besides this strife within New France there was a contest between the au- 
thorities of that province and those of Louisiana. A bad government at home 
naturally produced its like in the colonies. Corruption in administration seems 
to have been expected as a matter of course. Burdensome monopolies were 
made legal. Unchristian intolerance and exclusion were expressly commanded. 
" Precise orders were given by Louis XIII. that no Protestant should settle in 
Canada, and that no other religion than the Catholic should be tolerated." •* 
There was not even the thought of popular education. 

That the government of New France was less oppressive than that of the 
m )ther country was merely because men in Canada could easily find the free- 
dom of lake, forest, and prairie, a freedom, however, that was purely natural 
and not legal. Thus the fur trade monoi^olies could not prevent the existence 
of a large class of unlicensed traders, or coureurs de hols. Amono- these were 
found some of the most venturesome explorers, men like Radisson and Groseil- 
liers. The trader rather than the jjriest was the first who found a i)ath in the 



' No true judgment of the chm-ch of Rome can be formed which ignores the denomina- 
tioTial divisions within her ranks. These are known as "orders," and the history of their 
mutual contests forms some of tlie worst cliapters of sectarian controversy. 

^ Tliis was soon after his discovery (1080) of the falls at the present city of Mhuieapolis. 
These, called Kara by the Dakotas from irara to laugh, he named after St. Anthony of Padua 
(Italy). Five hundred feet M'as the hight he gave them in liis narrative as first publislicd. 
Later he put it at six hundred feet. 

3 John Law, a eulogist of tlie -Tesuits. addressing the Young Men's Catholic Literary Insti- 
tute of Cincinnati. 



Ifi IX rXXAMED WISCOXSIX. 

wilderness, and it was commonly in canoes laden with goods for the Indians 
that the missionary found conveyance to his Western home 

The French, Avilling to step down ahnost to the plane of barbarism, were 
for the most part successful in winning allies among the Indians of the interior. 
But the cargoes of goods which the traders brought were of course tempting ob- 
jects of plunder. Soon the Indians, especially the Outagamies, or Foxes, l 
learned enough of the ways of civilization to mike themselves toll-gatherers. 
Their service was to help bring the laden canoes up the Fox river rapids, — 
since developed into some of the best water-powers in the United States, — and 
over the portage to the Wisconsin. Their charges were quite as just as those 
of the French colonial authorities and far more reasonable. Thus the gover- 
nor demanded of Radisson and Groseilliers, as the price of a license, one-half 
of all they might get. Refusal to pay forced them to go without legal permis- 
sion and so exposed them to the exactions from which, as already narrate<l, 
they fled to Boston. In the general game of grab, the Outagamies. — crude 
reasoners of the wilderness ! — may have thought themselves entitled to all that 
they could compel others to pay. 

Of the many evils with which New France was afflicted, none was more 
hurtful to the Indians than the fur-trade monopoly. It lowered the price of 
what they had to sell and increased the cost of what they wished to buy. They 
soon learned that the English would give sometimes from four to six times as 
much for beaver skins as the French did. But these commanded the lakes and 
were at hand; the English were far away. The sturdiest young men of the 
Puritan commonwealths and of New York did not go into the wilderness to be- 
come semi-savages. The British colonists sought to turn forests into farms and 
thus found enough to do at home. Moreover, the great water-courses were not 
open to them, and the frequent wars made their settlements compact and put 
them much of the time on the defensive. 

' The Foxes were of two stocks : one calling themselves Outagamies. or Foxes, whence our 
English name ; tlie other, Miisquakink, or men of red clay, the name now us?d by the trihe. 
They lived in early times with their kindred the Sacs east of Detroit, and some say near the 
St. Lawrence. They were driven west and settled at Saginaw, a name derived from the Sacs. 
Thence they were forced by the Iroquois to Green Kay: but were compel led to leave that phice 
and settle on Fox River."— C. W. Butterfield. 



CHAPTEPv ill. 



THE Or^TACJA.MIE AVAR. 

With the accession of William and Mary to the thrones of England and 
Scotland began the struggle between the French and the British, elsewhere 
called the second AVar of a Hundred Years. During its first distinct phase, 
kn:nvn in American history as King William's war, the Outagamies, or Fox 
Indians, became bold enough to plunder, i as early as 1693, some of the French 
traders who, they alleged, were furnishing arms to the Sioux, the Outagamies' 
traditional enemies. The war that followed in the Mississii^pi valley and the 
Upper Lake region was virtually the ])eginning of the struggle by which the 
French were dispossessed of their North American dominions. 

The history of much of this war is obscure as to both time and circum- 
stance. But it is known that few v/ars of moderii time have surpassed it in fe- 
rocity or in the number of those slain as compared with the number taking 
part. There is reason to think that by 1712 the French and their Indian allies 
had formed the purpose to destroy the Outagamies. In the spring of that year 
a large force of that tribe, with w^hom were Mascoutins and some Sauks, en- 
camped near Detroit where a post had been built by the French to keep the 
British from the upjier lakes. Here the Outagamies and their allies made 
themselves troublesome. But though the fort was virtually at their mercy they 
made no assault and took no lives. On the 12th of May, Indian allies of the 
French arrived. The united force immediately beset the camp of the Outaga- 
mies, whom the fire of the enemy, hunger and the want of water brought to 
the humiliation of offering surrender. "My father," said their great war chief 
Permoussa to Du Bulsson, the French commander, " I come to you to demand 
life. It is no longer ours. You are masters of it. All the nations have aban- 
doned us." (He speaks for the Oatagamies and Mascoutins ; the Sauks had 
deserted.) " But do not believe I am afraid to die. It is the life of our wom- 
en and children that I ask of you." "I confess," says Da Buisson, "that I 
was touched with com})assion at their misfortunes; but as war and pity do not 
agree together, and particularly as I understood they were paid by the English 
for our destruction, I abandoned them to their unfortunate fate; indeed I has- 

* The charge made by the French that tho Oatagamies were incited to hostility by the 
British i.s not supported by evidence. However, it would be probable enough save for tlu; 
lack of connnunication between the English colonies and the distant interior. 



IS IX UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

tenecl to have this tragedy finished, in order that the example might strike ter- 
ror to the English and to themselves." 

In their first encampment the Outagamies withstood a siege of nineteen 
days. Then, under cover of storm and night, they sought a second place of 
defence where they held out against overwhelming odds four days more, "fight- 
ing with much courage," says Du Buisson, who adds : " Finally, not heing able 
to do any thing more they surrendered at discretion to our peojjle who gave 
them no quarter. All were killed except the women and children, whose lives 
were spared, and one hundred men who had been tied but escaped. 

"All our allies returned to our fort with their slaves" [the captive women 
and children, it would seem]. "Their amusement was to shoot four or five of 
them every day. The Hurons did not spare a single one of theirs. 

" In this manner came to an end these two wicked nations who so badly 
afflicted and troubled all the country. Our Rev. Father chanted a grand mass 
to render thanks to God for having preserved us from the enemy. The enemy 
lost a thousand souls, men, women and children." 

Thus ended the so-called siege of Detroit. 

At the end of his report which is dated " an Fort du Dt troit, Pontchar- 
train, June 15, 1712," Da Buisson expresses to Marquis de Vaudreuil, gover- 
nor-general of Canada, the hope that "you will nat suifer a devil to be reduced 
to beggary." He means himself, using the terra devil after the manner of 
those who mistake coarseness for humor. Most of us, however, will be inclined 
to give his expression a very literal interpretation. 

Notwithstanding the fond hopes of Du Buisson, the Outagamies were not 
exterminated. According to the estimate of the missionary Gabriel Marest, ^ 
who lays the blame of the war on his own countrymen, thei-e were four hun- 
dred warriors of that nation at Green Bay. With diplomatic skill tlie Outaga- 
mies sought alliances. They almost annihilated French trade in what is now 
Wisconsin and Minnesota. They blocked the Fox- Wise t)nsin route ^ and threat- 
ened that of the Chicago and the Illinois. It was evident that something 
must be done. It was even proposed to bring about reforms in law and ad- 

' We turn for a moment from graver matters to note tliat in connection with the name ol 
Marest, there may be offered a liumble contribution to the history of a bad joke. Writing 
1712, November i)th, from " Cascaskias " (old Kaskaskia, Illinoi.s), whicli lie de.soribes as mid- 
way between the Ohio aud the " Pekitanoui " (the Missouri), Marest .states that " oiime g'uus 
muscarum " (every kind of tly) abounds in tlie valley of the Mississippi, and that since 
Frenchmen came thither the mo.5quito3S have caused an unmeasured amount of profanity. 
We could wish that the statement of the age of this bit of supposed humor might prevent its 
use hereafter: a use that, in regard to a senseless and wicked habit, is too oft^n both sugges- 
tion and apology. 

Marest for a time was at Plymouth, Massachusetts, as a captive, having b:!en taken with 
other prisoners when, in lOO.'i, the English seized the forts on Hudson's bay. 

^ These were the principal routes from the Great Lakes to the Ohio and the Mississippi : 

1. From Lake Erie, by way of th;' Mianrt and the Wabash. 

2. From Lake Michigan, by way of the St. Joseph river and the Wabash. 
S. From the St. Joseph, by way of the Kankakee river, to the Illinois. 

4. By the Chicago river to the Illinois. 

5. The Fox- Wisconsin route, 

6. From Lake Superior , by way of the Bois Bruh^ and the St. Croix. 



THE OUTAIJAMIE WAK. HI 

inluistration. But this was too revolutionary, of course, and instead of doing 
justice to the Indians, as was advised by Perrot and others, the French authori- 
ties resolved to try a second time to exterminate their hated enemies. 

Accordingly there set out from Quebec 1716, March 14th, tlie first hostile 
expedition of white men that ever trod Wisconsin soil. " Every one believed," 
said Charle\^oix, "that the Fox nation was about to be destroyed, and so they 
themselves judged. They, thej-efore, determined to sell their lives as dearly as 
possible." 

It was, according- to tradition, at the little Butte des Morts, near the prtts- 
ent city of JMenasha, at the outlet of Lake Winnebago, that the Outagamies 
prepared for what they supposed to be their final defence. But their bravery 
won from De Louvigny, the French commander, honorable terms, which we are 
sorry to say they did not faithfully keep. So the war went on. In these years 
of strife and bloodshed the mission of 8t. Francis Xavier found shelter in a fort, 
to which it gave name, built some time between 1718 and 1721 a mile and a 
half from the m^uth of Fox river and on the site of the present city of Green 
Bay. Hither, in the summer of 1721, came Peter Francis Xavier Charlevoix, 
and found tliere his fellow Jesuit, Jean Baptiste Chardon, one of the last of the 
early missionaries in the region west of Lake Michigan. Chardon was present 
at a great council held at Green Bay, 7th of June, 1726, for the real or pretend- 
ed purpose of making peace between the French and Indians. Of these, Out- 
aT;amies, Sauks and Winnebagoes took part in the council. The truce rather 
than peace then agreed upon lasted less tlian two years. But it gave Beauhar- 
nois, then viceroy of New France, the opportunity of sending an expedition to 
establish among the Sioux a fort on the west side of Lake Pepin. To command 
t'lis force he chose Rene Boucher, the Sieur de la Perriere, who in 1708 left 
b^ihind him in New England^ a trail of blood. The Foxes permitted this 
B.)ucher to pass unmolested frona Fort St. Francis to the site chosen for the 
new fort to which the viceroy's name was given. Nor did they interfere with 
his return. 

Strengthened by their new military post Fort Beauharnois, the French be- 
came bolder. Rev. Emanuel Crespel, of the order of Recollects, gives an ac- 
count of an expedition which he accompanied as chaplain. His story needs no 
(' )mment and little ex])lanation. He writes very unconcernedly about the pro- 
]) )sed destruction of a peo2)le. "Four hundred French, to be joined by eight 
or nine hundred Indians of several nations, the whole under command of M. 
da Lignerie, were dispatched with orders to destroy a nation of Indians, called 

- On the 29th of August, 1708, a force of two hundred fifty men, consisting of French and 
Indians, reached Haverhill. The liouse of Rev. Benjamin Rolfe was the first attacked. It 
was garrisoned by three sokliers, who vvlieii the enemy appeared became terrified and tied. 
Tlie enemy broke through the door and soon captiu-ed Mr. Rolf e whom they tomaliawked. 
Mrs. Rolfeand one child were also killed.— Rev. G. L. Gleason, Haverhill, Massachusetts. 

A more vivid narrative says that Reno Boucher, the Sieur de la Ferriere was "the officer 
in command of the Indians who," with a party of French, 1708, August 2i)th, "siu'prise<l 
Haverliill, Massachusatts, killed," among forty others, "the minister of the town, scalped 
his wife and broke the skull of his child again.st a rock." 



20 l.N r.WA.MKl) \\IS("().\SF.\. 

by the French the Fox Indians; but in theii- own language the Outaganiies. 

"We halted on the 17th [of August, 1728], to avoid arriving at the post 
of La Baye before night, wishing to surprise our enemies, whom we knew to be 
in company with the Saguis [Sauks], whose village lay near Fort St. Francis. 
The enemies had information and all the inhabitants escaped except four, who 
were delivered to our Indians ; and they, after having long amused themselves 
with tormenting them, shot them with arrows, making them suffer the pain of 
twenty deaths before they deprived them of life. I was a painful witness ti) 
this cruel transaction, and wished to point out what I thought reprehensible in 
their proceeding; but all our interpreters were on the other side of the river." 

'' After this affair we ascended the Fox river. The 24th of August, we 
arrived at the village of the Puans Indians. Our men were well disposed to 
destroy such men as they found there, but the flight of the inhabitants saved 
theni, and we could only burn their huts, and destroy the harvest of corn on 
which they subsist." 

"The next day, being St. Lawrence's, we had mass, and entered a small* 
river which led us to a marshy ground, on the borders of which was situated 
the chief settlement of those Indians of whom we were in search. AVe found 
in their village some women only, whom our Indians made slaves, and an old 
man whom they burned by a slow fire, without manifesting the least rei)ugnance 
for committing so barbarous an action." 

These murders of five helpless victims moved the chaplain to give the of- 
fending Indians a moral lecture. It does not appear that he gave De Lignery 
who permitted these atrocities the benefit of any part of his excellent sermon. 
He goes on with something like unconscious satire to say, "I was proceeding to 
give further reasons, when orders were given to advance against the last post of 
the enemy which was situated on a little river which runs into another river, 
that communictftes with the Mississippi. We did not find any Indians, and jus 
we had no orders to advance farther, we employed some days in laying waste 
the country to deprive the enemy of the means of subsistence. 

" After this expedition, if such a useless march deserves the name, we i)re- 
pared to return to Montreal, from which we were now four hundred and fifty 
leagues distant. In our passage we destroyed the fort at La Baye, because be- 
ing so near so near the enemy, it would not afford a secure retreat to the 
French who must be left as a garrison." 

Beauharnois did not regard the march as useless. '"It is certain," he 
wrote 1728, September 1st, to the French minister of war, '' that one-half these 
nations, who number four thousand sovds, will die of hunger, and that the rest 
will come in and sue for mercy." 

" The Foxes would have found refuge with the Sioux, if the French fort 
had not been established there," said an official dispatch from New France to 
the home government. But the Sioux, whom the Outaganiies had won to a 
brief alliance, proved faithless to them in their hour of greatest need. Yet so 
much dreaded were the Outaganiies. even in defeat, that Fort Beauharnois was 



i:\i) OF Fui:.\('n dominion. 21 

;ihaiul()iie<l at their appioai-h. Fii<-itives tlieinselves, they «li(l not imrsue the 
garrison but sou<.ht ' etuge among tlie lowas. Soon they returned to the 
Wisconsin region. Nr'» the Sioux aUine, but all their allies, the Mascoutins 
and the Ki{'ka])oos, the '•lauks and the Winnebagoes. had deserted them. And 
of these the Mascoutins and at least some of the Winnebagoes became open 
enemies. 

Almost tifty-nine years elapsed from the coming of Allouez to Green Hay 
in 1()()9 until the departure of the last missionary with the garrison of Fort St. 
Francis in September. 1728. Yet the Indian allies of the French seem to have 
received very little practical Christianity. They continued to act like savages. 
Thus, probalily in the autumn of 1729, an expedition of Ottawas, Ojibvvays, 
Menomonees and Winnebagoes surprised a hunting.party of Outagamies. Of 
this event the cheerful Beauliarnois made report under date of 1730, May 6th : 

''I have the lioujr t) communicate to you the favorable news I have re- 
ceived this winter. thv.)iigh ditferent letters of officers who connnand in tlie 
up})er countjy. 

"A party of ovc-r two hundred Indians, Outaauacs, Sauteux. F'olles- 
Avoines and Puants, fell on the Foxes, surpi-ised and destroyed twenty flat-boats 
of this nation who were returning from a buffalo hunt, containing eighty men, 
who were all killed or burned, except three, — the allied Indians having burned 
the l)oats, three hundred women and children shared the same fate. 

" I have the honor, my lord, to communicate the news with so much the 
more pleasure, as there is no doubt existing on the subject, circumstances and 
letters, received by me from all parts, wliich d() not contradict themselves con- 
cerning tliis affair, corroborate the fact." 

Thdn the Outagamies did sue for peace. Their chief, in the depth of winter, 
sought the distant fort that the French had built on the river St. Josej)!!, near 
the southern end of Lake Micliigan. But though he asked "for nothing, ex- 
cept the lives of the women and children," ' and " promised that his people 
would send de])uties the next spring to Monti-eal to sue for mercy," ' he aj)i)ealed 
in vain to a people of whom one of their own number. La Mothe Cadillac, 
said : "Among the wolves we have learned to howl." In March, 1730, some of 
their number were attacked by a French force under (ionnnand of Marin, of 
whom we shall hear again, and an action ensued ''of the warmest kind." More 
of this fight, unless it is identical with one yet to be descrribed, we do not know. 

On the oj)posite side of the river from tlie site of Fort St. Francis, near 
the place where, eighty-six years later, American troops built Fort Howard, the 
French, in 1730, established a militai-y and trading post. But the mission was 
not revived. The general name La Baye, already in use, was given not only 
to the station but to what may be called in modern ])hrase the "sj)here of in- 
fluence" which it commanded. That summer was given to a campaign against 
the persecuted Outagamies. Its scenes suggest the words of the ])rophet Joel : 

' Hi.'bbin'd's " History of Wisconsin, uiiiler tlif Doiiiiiiioii ot Fimucc," ii:itJ:o \'M). 



22 IN rXNAMEI) WISCONSIN 

"Blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." The war l)ecanie, if possible, even 
more cruel. The slaughter of warriors in battle is to be expected, but not 
when the fight is over the burning alive of cajjtives and the destruction of 
women and children. To the eternal disgrace of the French commanders these 
tilings were done. 

The worst events of the war occui-red near Rock St. Louis ^ on the Illinois 
river. They are thus described in a letter addressed 1730, November 3rd, by 
Beauharnois and Hocquart to the French government : 

"An aii'air took place in September under the command of the Sieur de 
Villiers, commanding at the river St. Joseph's, to whom were united the Sieur 
de Noyelle commanding the Miamis, and the Sieurs de St. Ange, father and 
son, with the Fi'ench of that distant colony, together with those of our posts, 
and all the neighboring Indians our allies (we numbered from twelve to thir- 
teen hundred men) which resulted in the almost total defeat of the Foxes. Two 
hundred of their warriors have been killed on the spot, or burned after being 
taken as slaves, and six hundred women and children were absolutely de- 
stroyed. 

" This is a brilliant action which sheds great honor on vSieur de Villiers." 

The battle began on the 19th of August, 1730 ; the massacre began on the 
9th of September. The whole affair lasted twenty-two days. Nor was this the 
end of slaughter. At Starved Rock nine hundred of the Outagamies, men and 
women, were destroyed either in battle or in murder by knife and fire. Two 
years later, 1732, October 17th (it may be), their village on the Wisconsin and 
near the mouth of the Kickapoo was surprised by Indian allies of the French, 
— Iroquois 2 from the St. Lawrence, who had become Christians (of a peculiar 
sort, certainly), and some Hurons. These fell upon the peaceful village and 
soon massacred three hundred men, women and children. 

A party of seventy or eighty of the survivors went to Green Bay to sue 
for mercy. Among them was the chief Kiala, who w^as sent as a slave to 
Martinique, one of the West Indies. His wife chose to share his living death. 

Some of the unhappy remnant of the Outagamie nation found refuge for 
almost a year among the Sauks (Sacs) near Green Bay. When these refused 
to surrender the fugitives they became themselves the objects of French hatred. 
A fight occurred in which De Villiers, the Fi-ench commander, was killed.'^ 
Then the Sauks and Outagamies fled. According to Augustus Grignon the 
former, at least, found refuge on the Wisconsin river where they ])uilt a village. 
Another account states that the united party found a home beyond the Missis- 
sippi ()u the Wapsipinnicon river. "* In August, 1734, the French with some of 
their "Christian" Indians set out to attack them there. They fled to the Des 

^ Sometimes called Starved Rock. It is in the town of Deer Park, La Salle county, Illi- 
nois, on tlio soutli side of the river, Ix^tweeii the cities of La Salle and Ottawa. 

^ Very fow of that people were fric^iully to the French. 

* Different versions are given of this story, all agreeing that the French commander was 
slain. 

4 As the Sauk village may have been built after this time both stories may be true. It 



THE (^rTAiJA.MIK WAll 23 

M;)ines where the French, tailing of siu;(!ess, made a kind of peace at least 
with the Sauk.s. Under date of 1737, Octoher 16th, Beauharnois announced 
tliat peace had at length been established with the Sauks and the Foxes. We 
di) not know how long it lasted. But we do know that in 1742 the French dis- 
tributed })resents among those whom they had sought, so long and fiercely, to 
destroy. 

If we reckon from tlie destruction, in 1687, of the mission establishment 
at De Pare we have half a century of conflict. The deed mentioned shows 
matured rather than incipient hostility. It occurred before British influence had 
])enetrated this region, before England hei-self had ''flung the burden of the 
second James." Her government was tlien in a state almost of vassalage to 
Louis XIV. and her colonies were but a fringe on the Atlantic sea-board. It 
could not, then, have been in hope of alliance with the people of these distant 
settlements, that the Outagamies first braved the enmity of the French. For 
this action of theirs the simplest explanations seem most likely to be true. The 
Outagamies desired to rule rather than to be ruled, and they coveted a share 
of the traders' profits. If they were incited to hostility, or encouraged in war- 
fare, by the Iroquois the support does not seem to have been of the kind that 
shares danger or helps fight a battle. 

Events yet to he narrated nuiy belong to the history of this long struggle ; 
if not, they mark a renewal of it. But in 1737 the attempted destruction of a 
j)eople was at an end. Twenty-five years of such fighting as the world has sel- 
dom seen had weakened the power of the Frencli and not exterminated the 
Outagamies. 

Taking, for a moment, a forward look, we see that almost a century later 
these same people with their kindred Sauks (the Sacs and Foxes) were again in 
arms, this time against a nation the greatness of which, if not its very existence, 
they had helped to make possible. For theirs was effective aid in the over- 
throw of French power in North America. By this overthrow the American 
Revolution was, if not occasioned, at least brought more (piickly to pass, and 
tlie United States had opportunity to become a great as well as an ijidependent 
nation. 

will be noticed also that a general name as " Foxes " is sometimes used now of one party and 
aj?ain of another, and that wliat is said of oiu- of those, two closoly rcliitod tribes may he true 
also of the other or of both. 



CHAPTEf\ IV. 



END OF FRENCH DOMINION. 

Perriere Marin is one of the notable men of what we may call the Green 
Bay district of New France. Himself a trader, having posts nine miles west 
of Mackinaw (probably the old fort) and on the eastern bank of Mississippi ^ 
eight or nine miles below the mouth of the Wisconsin, he was deeply interested 
in putting a stop to the exactions of the Outagamies. He planned a massacre. 
With armed men hidden in boats, under oil-cloth or tarpaulin as goods were cov- 
ered from the rain, Marin approached Winnebago rapids which are near the 
oiitlet of the lake. The unsuspecting Outagamies had come to the river side 
to levy their customary tribute. Marin's men sprang from their concealment 
and poured a murderous tire upon the hated toll-gatherers. Unprepared for 
fight, the Outagamies fled to their village to find that it was in flames, and that 
an enemy, the Menominees, whom the crafty Marin had sent thither, awaited 
them. No quarter was asked and none was given. If the stories are to l)e 
believed, there perished of fifteen hundred Outagamies not fewer than a 
thousand. 

This assault, with that of De Louvigny, have made the country about tlie 
outlet of Lake Winneliago a veritable Aceldama, a Held of blood. 

Stories are told of two otlier expeditions against the Outagamies, and Ma- 
rin's name, is connected with l)oth. One, if it occurred at all,^ was a following- 



' Each of these is called Fort Morand by (xrignon, wlio writes thus the trader's name also. 

■^ Hon. Mo.ses M. Strong (" Wisconsin Historical Collections," volume VHL.page 247) says: 
"The only account of this expedition is a traditionary one." This renaark follows liis state- 
ment that in May, 1730, "Du Buisson, who commanded at Mackinaw, left tliat post with six 
hundred men, among whom were fifty Frenchmen, to complete the extermination of the 
Foxes, so effectually commenced two mouths hefore. Marin went with him." Mr. Strong's 
reference in "effectually commenced" is to the massacre by Marin,— tlu^ one described 
above. It took place, Mr. Strong believes, in 1730. The "wint(u- expedition," against the 
Outagamies near the mouth of tlicKickapoo, he credits to Marin, and follows, substantially, 
Augustus Grignon in saying that the victor, "liaving fully cou(iuered tlie Foxes, and liaving 
th(i last rennuvnt of tlnnn in his power, gave them their freedom; but reciuirod tliem to retire 
beyond the Mississippi, vvliich they did." Jieadds: "It seems probable tliat the Foxes and 
Sauks, having become confederates, wrested from the Illinois their posses.sions, and, incor- 
porating the renniant which they spared of that numerous tribe with their own, occupied 
the territory which had been the home of the Illinois. The principal seat of their power was 
the country about the nmuth of Rock river, whence in 1881, and more formidably and ettect- 
ively in 1«:{2, they made those forays upon the pioneer settlers of Illinois and Wisconsin 
which r(^sult(Hl in wliat is generally known as the Black Hawk war." 



END OF FRENCH DOMINION. 25 

up of the horrible " victory " at Winneba<i:o rapids. The attack was a surprise 
to tlie fugitives, — who had made a stand or, at least, an encampment near the 
Great Butte des Morts, i — -and, for them, another hopeless defeat. 

"The surviving- Foxes," says Augustus Grignon,- "located themselves on 
the northern bank of the Wisconsin, twenty-one miles above its mouth, and 
->me little distance below the creek next below the mouth of Kickapoo river; 
when I first passed there, in 1795, I saw some crude remains of this village. 
As soon as the enterprising Morand [Marin] heard of the new locality of his 
determined enemies, who still seemed bent on obstructing his great trading- 
thoroughfare, he concluded it would be unsafe for him to suffer them to remain 
there, and consequent^ lost no time, even though winter had commenced, to 
collect his tried and trusty band of French and Indians, and make a distant 
winter expedition against the Foxes. Perhaps he thought, as he had once de- 
feated them by stratagem and then by the usual mode of Indian warfare, that 
it would now be policy to push his fortunes by a winter campaign, fall upon his 
inveterate foes and strike a fatal blow when they would least expect it. Cap- 
tain Morand pursued on foot with troops up Fox river and down the Wisconsin, 
taking with them snow-shoes to meet the exigencies of the season and pursue 
their tedious march over the snow for a distance of fully two hundred miles. 
Tlie Foxes were taken completely by surprise, for Morand's men found them 
engaged in the amusement of jeu, de jxi'dle, or game of straw; and 
surroLinding the place and f;illing suddenly upon them, killed some and captured 
the others. So well planned was Morand's attack and so complete the sur- 
])rise, that not one of the Foxes esca])ed. Only twenty warriors were taken, 
with a large number of women and children." 

As we read this story of Grignon's we wonder if it is not merely an inc^or- 
ract version of the narrative, in chapter III., that it so much resembles. 

The time of Marin's bloody deeds is uncertain. Grignon seems to think 
that they resulted in di-iving the Outagamies beyond the INIississippi. This re- 
moval took place, he thinks, in 1746. Some writers change the order of these 
battles; and the ajjproximate dates given vary, in the case of the massacre at 
Winnebago ra})ids, not less than forty years. There is reason for adopting 
Grignon's view of a later date. The events in question may have occurred 
even as late as Marin's administration at Green Bay, which began in 17.50 and 
ended two years later. 

Savage as was Marin's treatment of the Outagamies, he seems to have 
had more humanity than most of those who preceded him in warfare against 
them. He was brave and efficient. He won to the su]»j)ort of the French all 
or nearly all the tribes in the region of the Upjjer Lakes and the U})per Missis- 
sis ;ippi. It miy hi thit even the remnant of tlie Oatagamies agreed 
to d.) service against the British. The treaty bringing all these tribes into al- 
liance with the French, during (at least part of) the "French and Indian war." 

' On the Fox river above Oshkosli, iiiid in wliat is now Winiii-baMro coiuity. 
- " Wisconsin Historical Collections," \()luiii(' 111., paj^cs "Jos, 'Jdii. 



26 IN UNNAMED WIS(X)NSIN. 

was made in 1754. " I conquered more than twenty nations," wrote Marin, 
" who have since made war on our behalf." Transferred by Du Quesne to com- 
mand on the Ohio, Marin was succeeded here by his son, who in 1749 had been 
stationed on the Chequamegon. The feeble hold of the French was soon lost. 

La Baye is a name foreign to mission annals. It would seem that from 
the day when priestly lips last sang "Introibo ad altare D3i,"^ — "I will go to 
the altar of God," — at Fort St. Francis until John Metoxen, of whom we are 
yet to learn, here led in the worship of God according to the sinqjle rites 
of the ancient churches, as followed by our Puritan fathers, there was within 
the limits (of the then future) Wisconsin no regularly maintained public Chris- 
tian service. In the first part of this long interval of ninety-five years, there 
seem to have been no pastoral or missionary visitors, and in the later time so 
little shepherding did the nominal Romanists of Green Bay receive that even 
marriage was entered into by many of them without any religious or civil rite. 

Thus for almost a century there was resident within the present limits of 
our state neither minister nor so-called priest. Meanwhile the authority of the 
French in North America came to an end. The greatest failure in colonization 
that the world has ever known became an acknowledged fact. Tlie treaty of 
Paris, 1763, Fel)ruary 10th, gave to Britain "a vast, compact and flourishing 
empire, reaching from the Arctic zone to the Gulf of Mexico." 

But earlier than this (1761, October 12th), when British troops occupied 
La Baye, — to which their commander, Cajitain Henry Belfour gave the name 
Fort Edward Augustus, — French dominion in what is now Wisconsin had 
come to an end. It left here imperfect explorations, abandoned missions, two 
or three miserable trading-posts, and a non-Indian population few in number 
and so poor in quality that it required the authority of the first American court 
established among them to compel proper honor to the rites of marriage. The 
story of French rule in the country between Lake Michigan and the Missis- 
sippi has been written,"^ and we feel as we read it tliat, save for the places men- 
tioned, it is utterly foreign. It is part of the annals of New France. Tlie 
cruelties that disgraced it bring reproach chiefly upon men of another race and 
language than our own. We may not in pharasaic manner blame the French 
people.^ But we may say with truth that the Bourbons had fitting agents in 
these forests and plains of the interior. It is retributive justice that sovereign- 
ty like theirs should be overthrown. 

When Nicolet came to Green Bay in 1634, Louis XIII. was king. He 
was the eldest son of the famous Henry of Navarre who succeeded to the 



^ The first words of the communion service of the church of Rome, commonly called the 
mass. 

2 " History of Wisconsin under the Domjiiion of the Frenrli," by Rev. S. S. Hebbcrd, of 
Viroqua. 

^ On the contrary, we are to remember that the vast majority of tlieni were liopelessly 
oppressed by tlieir ecclesiastical and political masters. Had th'> Hiipruenots received from 
France such privih^ses and liolp in colonization as England extended to her Puritans, hiu- 
Roman Catholics and her Quakers, a Nmv P"rance might have disputed with New England 
for the intellectual and moral leadership of North America. 



! 



i<:ni) of fri-:.\("h dominion. 27 

orowii of France when, 1589, Au-^ust 2n(l, his distant cousin Henry HI- (lied 
from the effects of a wound inflicted the day before hy a Dominican priest. 
As Henry IV. had been the leaden- of the Huguenots, the party of the Roman- 
ists ()p})osed by force of arms his accession to the royal dio^nity until (laO.S) 
he "allowed liiniself to be converted to Catholicism." This action of Henry's 
his been much commended as master stroke of ])olitics. Those who agree with 
GIbb;>n that ''to the statesman all religions are ec[ually useful and to the phil- 
osopher equally false " will v)f coui'se agree with the king's alleged statement 
that " Paris is well worth a m iss." Worth a mass, perhaps, but not the integ- 
rity of an immortal soul. And it is worthy of note that the infamous sov- 
ereigns who, by their tyranny and vice, lielped to bring upon France tlie storm 
of the Revolution were descendants of the man who denied his faith for the 
sake of the kingdom which tliey brought almost to ruin. Those who held what 
is now Wisconsin as jjart of tliair vast domain in Nirth America were Louis 
XIII. 1 named above, wh) reigned from the assassination of his father (whose 
acceptance of Romanism did n )t prevent his murder by a fanatic of that faith) 
1()10, May 14th, until his own death, thirty-three years later to a day. Tiien 
came his son, Louis XIV., infamous but called Le Grande, whose reign is the 
longest on record in the history of the w )rld. Dying 1715, September 1st, he 
left tlie throne to his great-grandson, Louis XV. who parted with New France 
(Canada, including all the country of t'le upper Lakes) by the treaty of Paris, 
1763. On the ratification of this treaty Voltaire congratulated the king on 
having got rid of fifteen hundred leagues of snow! By a secret treaty Louisi- 
ana (as afterward bought by the United States) had been ceded to Spain, 17(52, 
Noveml)er 3rd, as a set-off for Florida which Great Britain demanded as i)art 
of the price of i)eace and whicli she secured by the same treaty of 1763. thus 
humiliating his Catholic Majesty of Spain as well as his Cliristian Majesty 

of France. 

So completely has French influence ceased to exist in Wisconsin that even 
the church of the early explorers has among us not a Gallican but a German, 
Irish or Slavic aspect. Its "bishoijs" in this state trace their ecclesiastical 
lineage not through the see of Quebec but through that of Baltimore. A few 
troublesome measurements of land by "arpents" in the neighborhood of Green 
Bay, an<l some melodious names, — most of these corrupted forms of Indian 
words, — are all that is left of a dominion that has utterly passed away and 
left the world better for its going. ^ The sons of the French are Americans. 

1 The Froncli colonies were the special solicitud;! of tli.^ honi.i country. Louis XIII. was 
proud of Canada, the new France. Tliey had a B()V(!rnor, and an inti^ndant who had an eye 
on the f^overnor to report him at home, to see that all the wants of the people were provided 
for. This in Canada was quite proper, hut in New England it would have been hooted at. 
The French governnu^nt even selected wives for the colonists; (^ach had a dowry paid hy the 
king, and all l)achelors must get married at two weeks' notice or not hunt, catch fish or trade 
with tlie Indians. But the experiment failed. The English planted self-supporting colonies. 
The fittest has survived and the world is the hetter for it,— Pkofkssok John Fiskk. 

'•* A careful stud;;nt of the early history of this region, Rev. A. (). Wright, secretary of the 
National Board of Charitii.'S and Corre-tion, calls attention to the fact that there was an im- 
provement in the condition of the Indians among whom tlie Fr(Mich liad any considerable in- 



CHAPTEF^ V. 



BRITISH DOMINION. 

The period of Bi-itish dominion in the region hounded on the north and 
east by the Great Lakes, on the south by the Ohio and on the west by the up- 
per Mississippi lasted from the end of the French and Indian war, in 1763, 
until the definitive treaty of peace, 1783, September 3rd, between the Ameri- 
can states and the mother country. Indeed the northern and northwestern 
parts of this domain, now comprised within the states of Michigan and Wis- 
consin, were kept in possession by the British until the 1st of June, 1796. 
Then the western posts, which had been held without regard to the treaty of 
1783, were given up to the Americans. This was in accordance with the 
treaty signed by Jolin Jay, 1794, November 19th and ratified the following- 
August. 1 

fluence. Morever, among these tribes, the practice of cannibalism almost entirely ceased. 
The very few instances of it in the Avar of 1812 were acts of bravado rather than custom. 

" Ought you not," asks Mr. Consul Willshire Butterfield, so favorably known as a writer 
on the history of Wisconsin, "to modify what you say about the entire Northwest territory's 
receiving Christian civilization, April 7th 1788? Thero was a good deal of it at Detroit, 
Michilimackinac, Green Bay ("the Baye "), Prairie du Chien, in the Illinois, and on the Wab- 
ash before that date, but of course nearly all Roman CatlioHc." 

In reply it may be said that the civilization and the Christianity were both of a question 
able kind, and further that these places did not become centers of religious, intellectual or 
moral life, or even of any kind of business that does not flourish in barbarous eonnnunities, 
until they were changed by American emigration, bringing with it a purer faith and a more 
vital civilization. These came with the emigrants that crossed the Alleghanies to make 
homes, not with the wanderers who Wt-nt up the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes to gather 
furs. 

1 " The unexpected reverse in Europe induced Ministers to compromise with the Amc ricans. 
Jay's treaty was concluded, a cessation of the Indian war promis mI, the Imlians thems -Ives, 
now unsupported and dispirited by the defeat at tin Mi iinis, couclud ^d a tre ity with Wain;; 
(Wayne). The cession of one of the finest Countrys on Earth, with Public Works estimatL^<l 
at 300,000 Sterling was the immediate result, the loss of the fur trade and of the Canadas 
will be the ultimate consequence, if strong measures be not adopted and in due time." 

The foregoing is from "a statement of the Province of Upper Canada sent with the ap- 
probation of Lieutenant-General Hunter to Field Marshal his royal highness the Duk > of 
Kent (father of Queen Victoria), commander-in-chief of British North America in the yeai' 
1800." By the " reverse in Europe " the writer probably means the conquest of the Xetiier 
lands (Holland) by the French, 1794-5, and the otlier successes of that people by which they 
were able to conclude with Prussia, 1705, April 5th the treaty of Basle. 

The " statement " makes admissions that show reason for the strong feeling in the minds 
of Western pioneers against the British: "The Indians resolved to defend their country 
extending from the Ohio Northward to the Great Lakes and westward to the Mississippi. 
They employed the Tomahawk and tin; Scalping Knife against .--uch deluded Settlers who on 



HRITISH DOMINION. 211 

By proclamation "given at oiiv court at St. James's, the 7th day of Oc- 
tober, 1763, in the third year of our reign." King George III. established the 
})rovinces of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and Grenada, • and enlarged 
Georgia by the gift of the territory lying between the Altamaha river and the 
St. Mary's. 

This proclamation made Qaebec a "royal province" after the models then 
existing among the original English colonies. By this action two classes were 
greatly irritated, the R)iiian Catholic priests, because theirs was no longer the 
established church of the province, and the pro])rietors of large estates who had 
been striving to establish in America the feudal institutions of France. In 1774 
when troubles in the English colonies began to threaten war, the British parlia- 
ment passed the celebrated "Quebec act." By this act the boundaries of the 
province of Quebec were enlarged so as to include a great part of the present 
j)rovince of Ontario as well as what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, 
Wisconsin and the part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi. The measure 
was entitled " An act for making more effectual provision for the government 
of the province of Quebec in North America."^ It should have been called 
" An .^ct to please priests and claimants of land and seigneurial titles." This 
so-called "Quebec act" secured to the Roman Catholic clergy the "dues and 
rights " as related to members of that church which French law had given. 
Innocent-looking phrases sometimes cover evil things, and these " dues and 
rights " practically gave the priests the power to support themselves and build 
churches by public taxation of their people. The resvilt has been the virtual 
establishment of Romanism as a state religion in the province of Quebec. It 
was enacted that "in all matters of controversy relative to Property and Civil 
Rights, Resort shall be had to the Laws of Canada" (as they were under French 
rule). Thus those claiming rank and property under the old laws were satis- 
fied. For its immediate purpose the measure was successful. The popular 
feeling was stifled, the feeling that would have led Canada to join the colonies 
about to revolt. The invitation held out in the American Articles of Confed- 
eration was given in vain to a people ruled ])y priests and a Bourbon-made 
genti'y. Fortunately for our state it was delivered by the American Revolu- 
tion from the effects of this mischievous act, as well as from the consequences 
of other mistakes and wrongs in British legislation of the last century. 

the faith of the treaty to which they (the Indians) did not consent, ventured to cross the 
Ohio. Secretly encouraged by the Agdnts of Government, supplied with Arms, Ammunition 
and provisions they maintained an obstinate and destructive War against tlie States." 

' Tlio latter enibrac.id some islands in the West Indies. 

'■ The passage of this act was one of the grievances that led to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Our fathers feared Roman Catholicism both as falsa religion and political tyran- 
ny. They were also .iealous of the Gluu'ch of England and its daughter in this country. This 
■ from Carnegie's "Triumphant Democracy " is of interest: "The fear that England would 
establish the Epi.scopal Church in America, if the colonies should be sul)dued, drew together 
all other sects and all favor. ible to religious equality, and tiierefore opposed to th(^ claims of 
thi English Church. ' This,' s lys .lohn A lams, ' contribut.'d as much as any other cause to 
arous- tin attrition not only of tli ) iiiq.iiring mind, but of tli ■ coniuioii people, and urge 
them to close thinking on the constitutional authority of Parlianisnt over the colonies.' 
And the intensity of colonial opposition to th ! State Church is shown by the special instruc- 



30 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

In settlement, nothing was clone in the upper lake region during the time 
of British occupancy; in exploration, we note the travels of Captain Jonathan 
Carver, a native of Canterbury, Connecticut. He started from Boston on his 
long journey in June, 1766, went by way of Albany and Niagara Falls to Mack- 
inaw, and on the 20tli of September of the same year left Green Bay for the 
Mississipjji. He returned to Boston in October, 1768, having traversed nearly 
seven thousand miles. About ten years afterward his "Travels through the 
Interior Parts of North America" was published in London with a dedication 
to the eminent Sir Joseph Banks, dated July 20th, 1778. He gives a favorable 
account of the countries through which he passed, and tells his readers that 
even before beginning his journey he was convinced that the French had been 
trying to keep from all other nations, and especially from the English, accui*ate 
knowledge of the interior of the great North American continent. Carver 
was a good observer, and gives an interesting account of his trip up the Fox 
and down the Wisconsin. He died in London 31st (or the 29th) of Jiinuary, 

1780.1 

Dui'ing the storm of the Revolution the Wisconsin region was to the colo- 
nists foreign territory. The few civilized or semi-civilized men here were their 
enemies. One of them, Charles de Langlade, held a commission as captain in 
the British army. He had commanded a force of Indians against the British 
and Americans at Braddock's defeat 1755. July 9th. in the French and Indian 
war, and was with the Indians — perhaps he could not command them or did 
not wish to, — when they massacred British and colonial troops at Fort William 
Henry, on Lake George in one of the early days of August, 1757. He was 
present, — as were also, according to Parkman, "Sac Indians from the river 
Wisconsin," — when the massacre at Mackinaw occurred, June 4tli, 1763, and 
did nothing to prevent it. Cannibalism was one of the horrors of that friglit- 
ful time. 

British interests in this region were cared for by Colonel Heni'y Hamilton, 
at Detroit, and his subordinate, Major A. S. De Peyster, at Mackinaw. Haniil- 

tions of the Assembly of Massachusetts to its agent in London, in 17fi8 'The establishment, 
of a Protestant episcopate in America is very zealously contended for (by a party in the Brit- 
ish Parliament); and it is very alarming to a people whose fathers, from the hardships they 
suffered linder such an estal)lishment, were obliged to tly their native country into a 
wilderness in order to peaceably enjoy their privileges — civil and religious. We hope in (Jod 
that such an establishment will never take place in America; and we desire you would str.Mi- 
ously oppose it!' In addition, therefore, to the dissatisfaction wiiich the State Cluirch pro- 
duces at home, it is justly to be charged with being one of the chief causjs which led to the 
loss of the colonies abroad." 

1 He was attended in his last illness by the mendacious Tory clergyman. Samuel Peters, 
LL. D., whose " Blue Laws of Connecticut " still deceive some ill-informed people. Dr. Peters 
came to this country to prosecute a claim to the so called "Carver's grant " an account of 
which does not belong here. He spent some time in Prairie du Chien, and it is in a letter ad- 
dressed to him that we have an account of the first school there, —one of the first in Wiscon - 
sin. To this school reference will be made la*er. Dr. Peters says that Carver was ''by profes- 
sion an Anabaptist" (Baptist) in religion, and that he was a great-grandson of John Carver, 
first governor of Plymouth colony. As is well known, Peters was singularly inaccurate, if 
not habitually untruthful. Thus while the first of the above statements is very likely true, 
the second in all reasonable probability is not. For (xovernor Carver left only one child and 
that a daughter. 



BRITISH DOMINION, :!1 

ton was taken ^"'isoner 25tli February, 1779, by Colonel George Rogers Clark, 
at Fort Sankville (Vincennes), Indiana. Hearing of this, Langlade who, with 
a party of Indians was hastening to his relief, turned back at "Milwakie."^ 

Captain (afterward Lieutenant-Colonel) Patrick Sinclair- who succeeded 
De Peyster in command at Mackinaw when the latter took Hamilton's place at 
Detroit, rejoices in a letter dated 29tli of May, 1780, over an exploit of some 
of liis forces. He thus addressee Sh- Frederick Haldimand. governor of Can- 
ada from 1778 until 1784 : 

"Your Excellency was informed by my letter of February last, that a 
Party Wiis to leave this place on the 10th of March to engage the Indians to 
the Westward in an attack on the Spanish and Illinois country. Seven Hun- 
dred & fifty men including the Traders, servants and Indians, proceeded with 
them down the Mississippi for that purpose on the 2nd day of May. 

" During the time necessary for assembling the Indians at La Prairie du 
Chien, detachments were made to watch the River to intercept craft coming up 
with provisions and to seize upon the people working in the lead mines. Both 
one and the other were effected without an accident. 

"Thirty-six Minomies (at first intended as an escort) have brought to 
this place a large ai-med boat, '^ loaded at Pencour, in which were twelve men & 
a Rebel Commissary. 

"From the mines they have brouglit seventeen Spanish & Rebel Prisoners, 
& stopped Fifty Tonus of Lead ore and from both they ol)tained a good sup- 
])ly of Provisions. 

"Captain Langlade with a chosen Band of Indians and Canadians will 
join a party assembled at Caicago to mike his attack by the Illinois River, and 
another party are sent to watch the plains between the Wabash and the Missis- 

The expedition which went to Prairie du Chien was fitted out with the de- 
sign of capturing St. Louis then of course in possession of Spain. The inhab- 
itants sent Charles Gratiot, to ask aid of C.)lonel George Rogers Clark, then at 
Fort Jefferson on the Kentucky side of the Mississippi a few miles below the 

' It may be that h3 mat there no friendly reception. After a council of the Indians that 
yoar at okl Fort Mackinaw on tli j 4th of July, Major De Peyster addressed some of his Indian 
allies in verses very poor in qnality but unmistakable in meanins^: 
Those renegatesof Milwakie, 

Must now perforce with you ag:ree; 
81y Sisg'enaak and Naakewoin, 

Must with Langlade their forces join. 
- In his journal (yet in manuscript), written at Micliilimackinac in tlie sunnner of 1«20, 
«x-(TOvernor Doty describes Sinclair as "a wild, thoughtless, crazy Irishman." 

^ Tlie boat spoken of belonged to Charles Gratiot, a son of an exiled Huguenot. He had 
been a Mackinaw trader, but ift this date was living at Cahokia, in the Illinois counti-y. Un- 
like Lauirlade he aided tli3 American cause. "Gratiot's Grove," well known to the early set- 
tlers in the mining region, and the town and post-ottice of Gratiot in La Fayette county, were 
named in honor of his son Henry. A daughter of Hjnry Gratiot became 184.'>, July 81, the 
wife of Hon. E. B. Wasliburne, long a citizen of (ialeiia, Illinois, a city whose early history is 
clossly linked with that of southwestern Wisconsin. For ni:iny ye:irs Mrs. Wasliburne was a 
member of tlie South Presbyterian church of that city. II 'r son H,-iiipstead Wasliburne 
was lately mayor of Chicago. 



32 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

mouth of the Ohio. ' Clark came promptly and the enemies were driven back. 

But, though it is not likely that the American flag was displayed in the 
Wisconsin region more than once, if at all, during the whole Revolutionary 
war, the schemes of Hamilton, whose fifteen expeditions against the frontier 
settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia were probably scalping parties rather 
than anything else ; of De Peyster, who afterward was addressed by Robert 
Burns in his "Poem on Life" as "my honored colonel" and of Langlade for 
whom a sapient legislature of Wisconsin named a county, were more than off- 
set by the successes of Colonel George Rogers Clark. ^ His expedition more 
than any other military movement determined that this region should become 
in time states of the American Union and not provinces of Canada. However 
the acquisition on the part of the United States of the entire country lying be- 
tween the Great Lakes and the Ohio and the Mississippi was a triumph of 
diplomacy rather than of arms. Tlius the old Northwest Territory became a 
part of the new nation "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition 
that all men are created equal." 

There was significance in the fact that Haidimand, British governor of 
Canada, in an address dated Quebec, 2nd of July, 1779, and delivered by 
proxy to the Indians who were wont to assemble at Mackinaw always s])eaks of 
the Americans as " Bastonians." Since the landing of the first Mayflower 
Puritans had taught the world that nations did not need kings nor churches 
lord-bishops. The Saxon "folk-moot" had become the New England town. 
The men of these New Testament churches and self-governed towns had estab- 
lished free schools for all the children of their commonwealths. Out of their 
love for learning had grown the American college. They had given their fel- 
low-colonists as early as 1643, the first lessons in practical union, and thus laid 
the foundation of our present system of government. They made the Ameri- 
can Revolution a necessity and a success. From them more than from any 
others came the men who won the victory. Next were the sturdy Presbyterians. 
Among these were the Irish who won so just a fame in the contest with the 
British kin<T, and who had an honorable place in what Theodore Roosevelt has 
hapi)ily called "the winning of the West." The Episcopal clergy were nearly 
all Tories. Even Jacob Duche, whose extemporaneous prayer before Con- 
gress has been the subject of so much admiration, remained a loyalist, aiul tried 
to persuade Washington to renounce the cause of the new nation then strug- 
gling to be free. John Wesley, good man as he was, condemned the colonists 
for their rebellion. We cannot blame him, for we remember that he was an 
Englishman. 

Of all classes in that trying time none were more generally patriotic than 



1 On January 2nd 1778, Patrick Henry, felien governor of Virginia, issued instruotions to 
Lieutenant-Colonel George Rogers Clark to rais ^ s^ven companies, to consist of fifty men 
each, properly ofticered, with which to attack the British force in the Illinois country, and 
thus put a stop to their inciting Indian forays against the frontier settlements of Kentucky, 
Virginia and Pemisylvania. In that year Clark wrested from the British govornnnnt Kas- 
kaskia and Cohokia in Illinois; and, early in the ensuing year, Vincennes in Indiana. 



BRITISH DOMINION. m 

Confjrecfational clernfy of New England. Many, with the yonngev men of their 
congregations, engaged in army service. Among these was one who is entitled 
to rank among the founders of states. ^ William Bradford of Plymouth colony, 
John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay, and Thomas Hooker of Connecticut, 
had a worthy successor of their own faith in Rev. Manasseh Cutler, pastor for 
fifty-two years of the Congregational church in Ipswich Hamlet, later Hamil- 
ton, Massachusetts. He belongs to Wisconsin though he never set foot ui)on 
our soil. 

While the convention that frame I the constitution of the United States 
was in session in Phila(lel])]iia the continental congress was sitting in New 
York. Hither came 1787, July 6th, Dr. Cutler, "hearing," says Senator G. F. 
Hoar, "the fate of the Northwest." He was agent of the Ohio company, the 
object of wliich was to found a settlement in what was then called the West. 
For tliis i^urpose land was needed and Dr. Cutler came to buy it. That he 
should have been chosen for this delicate and responsible duty does not surprise 
us wlien we learn the varied abilities of this extraordinary man. After grad- 
uating from Yale college in 1765 he went into business. Then he studied law 
and was admitted to the bar. Preferring the ministry, he entered that calling. 
In the exercise of it he studied medicine to such good purpose that he became 
a member of the Massachusetts medical society. While serving as chaplain in 
the army he had at one time under his care forty-two patients ill with vai'ioloid. 
He was one of the first party of white men that explored the White mountains. 
He was the second American writer on botany, and made astronomical calcula- 
tions which at that time had not been surpassed in this country. ^ 

Tliere were many reasons why Congress desired to sell land on the Ohio. 
The proceeds would aid in lessening the enormous pulilic debt. Such a settle- 
ment as that proposed would l)ind the Western country to the rest of the Union. 
The possibility of separation was then felt to be a real danger. " The West- 



' Mana.sseh Cutler is entitled to rank with Bradford, Winthrop, Penn, Calvert and Osle- 
tiiorpe, as the founder of a. state."— The Nation, 'M)tk Aiiguat, 1888. 

^ Since writing the above I have fouiKl the following in Carnogie's " Triumphant Democ- 
racy:" 

"H(!re are the words of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, D. D., LL. D., of Ipswich, Massachusetts, 
who was at once mini.ster, scientist, statesman and the agent of the New England and Ohio 
Company, which started [tlu sjttlement] at Marietta, Ohio. Blessed man, he it was who suc- 
ceeded in getting passed tlie famous ordinance of 1787, wliich prohibited slavery in the old 
Northwest Territory, and secured that fair domain forever to freedom. Here is the prediction 
he made in a pamphlet published in 1787 : 

" ' rhe current down the Mississippi and Ohio, for heavy articU^sthat suit the Florida (Mis- 
sissippi) and West Indian markets, such as Indian corn, flour, bei^f, timbiM-, t!tc., will be more 
loaded than any [other] stream on earth ! It was found by late experiments that sails are used 
to great advantage against the current of the Ohio; and it is worthy of observation that, in 
all possibility, steamboats will be found to he of infinite service in all our river navigation." 

"That was written twenty years l>efore Fulton's practically successful apidication of 
st-^am to navigation, and a quarter of a century before the first s eamboat that ever plowed 
the Western rivers was built at Pittsburg." 

It api)ears also that while Dr. Cutler was at Marietta he w.as one of a party that made ex- 
periments with a screw-propel lor of such sort as those now used by our laki^ and ocean 
steamers. Dr. Cutler anticipated tlui usefnbioss of the invention though there \va.s no avail- 
abl;^ power to apply to it. See McMaster's account of the Marietta colony. 



•U IX L'XXAMEL) WISCOXSIX. 

ern states." Washington wrote, •■ stand, as it were, upon a pivot. The touch of 
a feather would turn them either way." The English had not yet given up the | 
Western posts. ^ Against them as well as against the Indians and the Span- 
iards the new colony would be a defence. Nearly all the men who puii^osed to 
go had served in the Revolutionary army. To such an extent was this the case 
that when a few years later, 1796, the Congregational church of Marietta, the 
first in the town, was organized nine out of the twenty-five men who entered 
into covenant had been ofiicers in military service. 

Not only in his own character but as the representative of men like these 
and as the possible purchaser of a million and a half acres of land was the 
Ipswich pastor a power. Massachusetts as well as Congress had land to sell 
and tliis fact doubtless had weight with the latter body. A measure for the 
government of the Northwest Territory was then pending. But it was not 
satisfactorj' to Dr. Cutler and he would make no purchase until an ordinance 
was passed which pleased him. With consummate tact he addressed himself 
to the Southern members especially those from Virginia. Some men of the 
South gave the proposed measure hearty support. Without their aid it could 
not have been enacted. It was well kno\vii that Washington favored keeping 
slavery out of the West. On the 13th of July, 1787, was passed that ••im- 
mortal ordinance " as the late President I. W. Andrews of Marietta calls it. 
For it, he adds, "we are largely perhaps chiefly indebted to Dr. Cutler." Be- 
fore it was passed liis keen eyes read it and his pen amended it in some of its 
most important articles. Doubtless he insisted on the anti-slavery clause which 
Nathan Dane who favored it had given up Ib despair. Without the reserva- 
tion of land for the purpose of establishing a university he would not buy. He 
drew up a scheme for the establishment and government of the university sys- 
tem. His. probably, is the noble declaration : •• Religion, morahty and know- 
ledge, being necessary to the good government and happiness of mankind, 
schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." 

Not to speak of the constitution, thi'ee state papers have been pro<^luced in 
America which will command always and everywhere the attention of thought- 
ful men. These are the Declaration of Independence, the ordinance of 1787 
and the Emancipation Proclamation. The first, notwithstanding what Rufus 
Choate called its •• glittering generalities,'" and the strained character of some of 
its charges against the king, is worthy of its place in history. The second im- 
pressed the Puritanism of the free state, the free church and the free school 
first upon the Northwest Territory and the states formed from it, and then up- 
on a majority of the newer American commonwealths. •• Copied in succeed- 
ing acts for the organization of Territories " says Alexander Johnson, " and 

* " The government of the United States not having fulfilled s<inie Articles of the treaty of 
peace, wliich established their independence, it was thought proper l>y the British govern- 
ment to retain the Military Posts of Oswego, Niagara, Detroit and Michilimackinao, wliich 
had been injudiciously ceded by Oswald the British Commissioner, a man of little political. 
and less local knowledge, if Men's talents may be estimated by their Measures." See note 
on page 28. ' 



BF{ITISH I)()MI\I()\. 35 

still controlling the sjiirit of such acts, the ordinance of 1787 is the found- 
ation of almost everything which makes the American system peculiar." It 
ai)()lished primogeniture and entail. It secured equal rights of inheritance. It 
nr.ide possihle the Emancii)ation Proclamation, and, in IHG.'). what is substan- 
tially its sixth article, api)ears as the thirteenth amendment to the constitution 
of the United States. In it was in embryo the constitution of Wisconsin, and 
the anti-slavery clause thereof is a transcri])t of that found in the ordinance. 
•' God is manifest in history." 

Under the sanction of the solemn compact tlius entered into by Congress 
the Ohio company made its settlement The story does not need to be told 
hore. It is not foreign history; it is a i)art of our own. The Marietta of 
Manasseh Cutler, the Congregational minister, and of Rufus Putnam who 
fought for his country and ours in the Revolution, is much nearer to us than the 
Green Bay of AUouez, the P'rench Jesuit, and Charles Langlade whose ninety- 
nine real and mythical battles were always fought against the people whose en- 
sign is now the stai's and stri])es. This Puritan settlement on the Ohio has the 
same kind of primacy over the old French settlements in all this region that 
Plymouth has over St. Augustine or Santa Fe. 

Wisconsin, as well as lier sister commonwealths, received evangelical re- 
ligion, popidar education, English law and language, with attendant civiliza- 
tion, through settlements begun at Marietta. Speaking in tliat historic place 
at the centennial celebration 1888, April 7th, Senator George Frisbie Hoar 
used these words : 

'' Here was the first liuman government under which absolute civil and 
religious liberty has always ])revailed. Here no witcli was ever hanged or 
burned. When older states or nations, wliere the chains of human bondage 
have been broken, shall utter the proud boast, ' With a great price I obtained 
this freedom,' each sister of this imperial grouj), Oliio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 
gan and Wisconsin, may lift up lier cjueenly head with the yet proudei' answer, 
' But I was free-born I' " 

We could wish that these statements were entirely accurate. It is true 
that the witchcraft delusion that lias slain its hundreds of thousands of victims 
in Germany, France and Britain, and its twenty or more even in New England, 
found none in the region between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi after 
American government was firmly established here. But this statement, even 
as thus qualified, must not be understood as aj)plying to the Indians. Among 
them were many cases, doubtless, of the death penalty for sup])osed witchcraft. 
One such is mentioned in a late history of Indiana as liaving taken place within 
what are now the limits of that .state in one of the early year.s of this century. 
In or about 1840 a squaw was put to death in Iowa by the famous chief Keo- 
kuk, on the charge of having bewitched one of his children. * But this sup- 
posed witch, more fortunate than tlu^ Indiana victim, was not burned. It may 

' .1. K. Xewliall. in " Sketclie.s of Iowa." 



36 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

be remarked, in passing, that death for witchcraft was one of the potent factors 
in reducing the number of the Indian popuhxtion Ijoth before and after the ad- 
vent of white men to this country. Major J. W. Powell makes this statement: 
"It may safely be said that wliile famine, pestilence, disease and war may have 
killed many, superstition killed more." 

All this many would be ready to believe who yet would be inclined to 
doubt that an American officer ever gave an order for the execution of the sen- 
tence of a court that had commanded death by burning as the penalty of witch- 
craft. But we have documentary evidence that such an order was given, and 
that by the uncle or grand-uncle of Mary Todd, the woman who became the 
wife of Abraham Lincoln. By appointment (dated at Williamsburg, 1778, 
December 12th) of Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia, John Todd was 
made "commandant of the country of Illinois" after its conquest by Colonel 
George Rogers Clark. The subjoined order was found in Colonel Todd's note- 
book: 

" Illinois, to-wit : To Richard Winston. Esq., Sheriff in chief of the Dis- 
trict of Kaskaskia: 

'• Negro Manuel, a Slave in your custody, is condemned by the Court of 
Kaskaskia, after having made honorable Fine at the Door of the Church ' to 
be chained to a post at the Water Side and there to be burnt alive and his ashes 
scattered, as appears to me by the Record. This sentence you are hereby re- 
quired to put in execution on tuesday next at 9 o'clock in the morning, and this 
shall be your warrant. Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia, the 1.3th 
day of June, in the third year of the commonwealth." 

An unknown pen has drawn black lines in Colonel Todd's note-book across 
the record as found above. From this circumstance some have hoped that the 
sentence was never carried oiit. But in the opinion of Edward G. Mason of 
Chicago, who has carefully studied this subject. " it is probable that the sen- 
tence was actually executed." 

"The third year of the Commonwealth" was of coui-se 1779. On June 

15th of that year another order was given by Todd in regard to the execution 

of a sentence of death for alleged witchcraft, this time in the case of " Mo- 

reau, a slave condemned to execution, " doubtless for the same offense ; voudou- 

"ism, or witchcraft. To this unhappy victim was given the more merciful death 

1 " To make honorable Fine at the Door of the Church " is a puzzling ex,;ression to most 
of us. In a personal interview with Archbishop F. X. Katzor of Milwaukee that gentleman 
expressed tlie opinion that it meant to do some prescribed form of penance. More detinit;dy 
Bishop S. J. Messmcr of Green Bay wrote me under date of 180-t, February TJtli: "I have 
asked different gentlemen about it. They all agree that it is only a bad literal translation of 
the French 'faire une amende honorable,' which means to make proper amends for an injus- 
tice or wrong. As to the custom mentioned in your reference, you will get an idea of it by 
referring to Webster's Dictionary under the word anieniJe. Why Web.ster should call it an 
'infamous' punisliment, I can not understantU except it be in the same sense as the legal 
phrase po-tnt infuinis, a punishment for a crime which renders the culprit legally infamous; 
i. e., deprives him of his civil rights.'' 

However, the punishment as described by Webster would seem to be infamous enough. 
And thus, very possibly, it was that the poor victim at Kaskaskia paid part of the penalty of 
liis imaginary offense little more than a hundred years ago. 



BRITISH DOMINION. 37 

of hanging. Is he not the last legally to suffer death for his imagined offense ? 

These condemnations for witchcraft took place under French law. How 
far the " Quebec act " was responsible for the revival of the statute, or ordinance, 
under which these convictions were had I can not say. "The law against sor- 
cery held its place in French legal works till at least the middle of the last cen- 
tury." ^ That, as we have seen, was about the time of the enforced separation 
between New France and the mother country. There the penalty for witch- 
craft was death by l)urning. What was law in the Illinois region was, of 
course, law in what is now Wisconsin. 

Accordingly, if the Kaskaskia court was right, witchcraft scarcely more 
than a century ago, was a legal offense in all this region and the penalty was 
death by being burned alive. That in a time of panic, such as almost undoubt- 
edly there was at Kaskaskia in the summer of 1779, and in a distant colony, 
tlie old law should have been held to be in force is not sur2)rising. For the 
American officers there is this measure of excuse, that they sought to interfere 
as little as possible with existing laws and customs. The Revolutionary war 
Avas not at an end. 

As the stain of death for witchcraft is upon the history of this western 
part of the old province of Quebec, so the foul mark of negro slavery blots 
the early record of the same region after the old Northwest Territory was suc- 
ceeded by those organized from it. With the western movement of emigra- 
tion from Virginia and other Southern states came a reaction from the lofty 
sentiment and good sense which found expression in the great ordinance. "No 
])erson shall lie held in slavery, if a male, after he is thirty-five years of age ; 
or a female, after twenty-five years of age." There was danger that this clause 
would be incorporated into the first constitution of Ohio. It had the approval, 
as was known, of President Jefferson who was sentimentally an enemy of slav- 
ery, practically a supporter of it.- But at Rufus Putnam's call Ephraim Cut- 
ler rose from a bed of illness and. by an earnest appeal, prevented the marring 
of his father's work. "It cost me every effort I was capable of making," and 
bis own proposition utterly forbidding slavery "passed by a majority of one 
vote only." And that vote was secured by INIr. Cutler's appeal. He adds: "I 
])rei)ared and introduced all that part of the constitution " which relates to 
slavery, religion and schools or education."'^ Thus Puritanism secured to Oliio 
the freedom it had established there. 

Negro slaves were held in Indiana and Illinois. In four years as many as 
five petitions were sent from (the Territory of) Indiana asking for the suspen- 

' Legislation against witchcraft is certainly as old as, and perhaps older tlian, tlie " Twelve 
Tahles " of Roman law. Until 1K21 there was a statute in force in Ireland enacting " that if 
a piirson bewitched in one country died in another the person guilty of causing his deatit 
might he tried in the country where the death happenc^d, so that Ireland appears to he dis- 
tinguished as tlie last country in wliich penalties against witchcraft were retained in statute 
law." 

'^ Tlie handwriting (of the proposed clause) " I had no doulit was Mr. JefTerson's."— 
Ephraim Cxitler. 

* Outside of New England none of the states, except Pennsylvania, had at that time a 
system of common scliools. 



;{S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

sion or repeal of the anti-slavery clause of the ordinance. What wonder that 
years later she denied to men, simply because they were black, a right to have 
a home within her borders, and that, during the straggle for the life of the na- 
tion, the most malignant copperheadism stained her honor? And in all these 
respects her shame was shared by her great neighbor on the west. Only by 
heroic efforts was slavery prevented from getting legal foothold in these states. 
Illinois furnished a martyr to the anti-slavery cause in the person of P^lijah 
Parish Lovejoy, a Congregational minister who was killed by a mob at Upper 
Alton, 7th of November, 1837. Even in Wisconsin several negro slaves were 
held. Of these two at least were returned to slave soil and to legal bondage.^ 
Forty-one men landed at Plymouth; forty-eight at Marietta. Religious 
belief was strong in both companies. It was fitting that the faith of the men 
who landed on Plymouth Rock should be the first preached to white men in 
Ohio. The first sermon to the settlers at Marietta was by Rev. Daniel Breck 
on the 20th of July, 1788. The text was significant: "Now, therefore, if ye 
will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall ye be a peculiar 
treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be 
unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which 
thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." — Exodus XIX. 5, 6. In the 
congregation was Colonel John May of Boston. The following is from his 

journal of the date given above : 

"At eleven o'clock to-day a religious service. Mr. Daniel Breck began the 
observance by singing, praying and preaching. The place of worship was our 
bowery, on the bank directly over my ship. A large number of people were 
assenibled from the garrison [of Fort Harmar], Virginia, and our own settle- 
ment, in all about three hundred; some women and children, which was a 
pleasing, though somewhat unusual sight for us to see. Mr. Breck made out 
pretty well. The singing was excellent. We had 'Billings' to perfection. 
Governor St. Clair was much pleased with the whole exercise." 

The bowery was an arbor prepared for the Fourth of July celebration. 
The "ship" was the boat in which Colonel May had come from Pittsburg, and 
in which he lived until he could build a house. "At that time there was not a 
Protestant church for white people in the Northwest Territory, and not another 
clergyman there to preach the gospel in the English language." ^ Only one 
family had then arrived at Marietta. The women and children of whom Col- 
onel May speaks were from the Virginia side of the river. 

The second who preached in the new colony was Dr. Cutler himself. His 
sermon, delivered on the 20th of August 1788, from Malachi I. 11, was worthy 
of a man who, to use the words of the Westminster catechism, believed that 

» These were girls from the liome of Rev. James Mitcliell. When it became unsafe to hold 
them longer as slaves in Wisconsin they were sent to Missom-i. This James Mitchell must not 
be confounded with John T. Mitchell, his father, nor with Samuel Mitchell, familiarly called 
" Father " Mitchell, his grandfather. While living in Virginia Samuel Mitchell , on becoming 
a Christian, set his slaves free. See " Negro Slavery in Wisconsin " by J. N. Davidson, " Pro 
ceedings of the Wisconsin State Historical Society for 185)2." 

2 From an historical sermon by Rev. C. E. Dickinson, Marietta, Ohio. 



BRITISH DOMINION. 89 

'•man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." It recognizes 
the excellencies and speaks fi-ankly of the faults of the older Puritan charac- 
ter. It argues against the union of church and state. In it we have evidence 
that a man might he a Calvinist of the eighteenth century and yet a hroad, 
liheral-minded man. Dr. Cutler never became a resident of the Northwest 
Territory though Washington offered him a judge's commission therein. Later 
he was for two terms a member of Congress from Massachusetts. But he kept 
his pastorate, an example to those upon whom ministerial vows seem to rest 
with little weight. 

Settlements rapidly extended in the Northwest Territory. Twenty thou- 
sand came in 1788. By the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 it ceased to be on 
the west the political frontier of the United States. The army of emigration 
which swept westward from the Atlantic states was reinforced by those whom 
the sinister influences of slavery drove from the South. But years elapsed 
before it took possession of what is now Wisconsin, which thus remained un- 
organized and without distinctive name or defined area until 1836. In 1800 it 
was made part of Indiana Territory, in 1809 part of Illinois and in 1818 part 
of Michigan. When, by act of Congress approved 1836, April 20th, the Ter- 
ritory of Wisconsin was organized, it included not only the present state of 
that name but also what is now Iowa and Minnesota as well as all that jiart of 
.South Dakota lying east of the Missouri, and of North Dakota lying east of 
the Missouri and the White Earth. All this had previously belonged to Mich- 
igan. This act made Wisconsin an organized Territory, 1836, July 4th. By 
act of 12th June. 1838 the Territoi-y of Iowa was organized, taking all of Wis- 
consin west of the Mississippi. The act of 1846, August 6th, enabling the 
people of Wisconsin to form a state government separated from the prospect- 
ive state all that part of what is now Minnesota lying east of the boundary 
formed by the Mississippi to its source (Lake Itasca) and thence by a line 
drawn due north to the '' northwest corner of the Lake of the Woods," that is 
to the British possessions. Thus to Wisconsin were given her present limits. 

The Americans were slower in taking actual possession of this region be- 
tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi than in acquiring title to it. The 
French hated and dreaded the Yankees. " Great danger both to individuals 
and to the government is to be apprehended from the Canadian traders." 
Thus in 1811 wrote Nicholas Boilvin, Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, — the 
only one in the Wisconsin region, — -to the war department. 

During the second war with Britain the military posts in Michigan and 
what was then northern Illinois ^ fell again into the hands of the British. That 



' When, 1809, February 3, the Territory of Illinois was created by act of Congress, her 
eastern boundary extended to Lake Superior; lier western " to the most northwestern point " 
of the Lake of the Woods. That is northward from the confluence of the Ohio and the Mis- 
sissippi, her western l)oundary was that of the United States until the Louisiana purchase. 
"The most northwestern point," — we use the words of the treaty of 178;$, — was then unde- 
termined. It is now known to be in longitude !).'> 8 5(!.7 west of Greenwich, and latitude 40 
2.3 .'iO.28 north. Thus even the little point of land projecting into the Lake of the Woods 
from the west, and now forming part of Minn!^sota though separated from it, was once a part 



40 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

at Mackinaw was surrendered without resistance, 1812, July 17th, to a superior 
force of the enemy. This event turned back Brigadier-General AVilliani Hull 
from his proposed invasion of Canada, perhaps decided the fate of Detroit 
(surrendered 1812, August 6th) and made the British masters of the region be- 
tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi. All that Boilvin, unsupported by 
military force, could do was more than offset by the influence among the In- 
dians of Robert Dickson, a British trader, whose home had been at Prairie du 
Chien since about 1790 or 1795. i 

About the first of May (or perhaps a little later), 1814, William Clark, 2 
governor of Missouri Territory and commander of the United States troops of 
the upper Mississippi, started from St. Louis for Prairie du Chien. There he 
held a council with the Indians, and left a force under command of Lieutenant 
Joseph Perkins, of the twenty-fourth United States infantry, to build and garri- 
son a fort. After Governor Clark's return we hear of the expedition in a letter 
dated at St. Louis, 1814, July 2nd: "On Sunday last [June 26th], an ariiied 
boat arrived from Prairie du Chien under command of Captain John Sullivan, 
with his company of militia and thirty-two men from the gunboat ' Grovernor 
Clark,' their terms of service (sixty days) having expired. Captain Zeizer 
[or Yeizer], who commands on board the 'Governor Clark' off Prairie du 
Chien, reports that his vessel is completely manned, that the fort is finished, 
christened ' Fort Shelby ' and occupied by his regulars, and that all are anxious 
for a visit from Dickson and his red troops." 

Probably Dickson did not come for he was at Mackinaw when, 1814, Aug- 
gust 4th, the Americans made an unsuccessful attack on that stronghold. But 
an enemy came who put to silence all boastful words. Part of the story is 
told in an official record from Lieutenant-Colonel Robert McDouall to Lieuten- 
ant-General Sir George Gordon Drummond dated at "Michilimackinac," 16th 
July, 1814 : 

" I beg leave to acquaint you that on the 21st ulto. I received information 

of Illinois'. But on her admission into the Union all of the former Territory lying north of 
latitude 42 30,— that is the whole of Wisconsin, except most of the peninsula hetwoen Green 
Bay and the lake, more than half of the Upper Peninsula of Micliif^an and almost a third of 
Minnesota. — was added to Michigan " for temporary purposes only." 

' Perhaps even longer. The following is from the reminiscences of "Colonel" .John 
Shaw, a well known pioneer : 

"Colonel Robert Dickson obtained anmibounded influence over the Indians of the North- 
west. He established a law that no Indians should engage in war Avith each other within 
twenty-live leagues of Prairie du Chien: that wide belt of country should be strictly neu- 
tral ground. I think he must have made Prairie du Chien his summer homc^ for some thirty 
years prior to the final pacification in 1815." 

Dickson was faithful in his allegiance to "the best of Kings and Our Glorious Constitu- 
tion." I use his own words. Shaw continues: " When peace was proclainuMl, he spoke to a 
large assembly of his red children, and informed them that the treaty r(Mid('re(l it nece.ssary 
for him to retire to the Red River of the North and Hudson's Bay ; that it caused the deepest 
gloom in his mind to be compelled to leave his nmch loved children, and that he could never 
recover from this sorrow. The Indians by their tears and grief for many days evinced their 
strong attachment for their father and friend." 

2. A brother of George Rogers Clark, and the associate of Captain Meriwether I^ewis in the 
famous exiiedition known by their names; the first .sent by vhe United States government 
across the Rocky Mountains. 



HUITISll DOMINION. 41 

of the r;i])tnre of Prairie des Cliieiis on the j\lississi})])i liy the American Genl. 
Clarke \vh > liad advanced from St. L )nis with six or eii;ht very hirge Boats with 
abont three liumh-ed men for tlie puri).)se of estaMishin;;- himself at that post 
by building- a Fort the situation b^^in^- very eliifible for that purpose. * * 

••I saw at once the imperious necessity which existed of endeavoring by 
every means to dislodge the American Genl from iiis new conquest, & make 
him relinquish the immense tract of country he had seized xi\H>n in consequence 
«!t which brought him into the very heart of that occupied by our friendly 
Indians. There was no alternative it nuist either be done or there would be an 
end to our connextion with the Indians for, if allowed to settle themselves, by 
dint of threats, l)ribes. & sowing divisions among them, tribe after tribe would 
be gained over or subdued & thus would be destroyed the only barrier which 
protects the great trading estaldishment of the Northwest and the Hudson's Bay 
Companys. Nothing could then prevent the enemy from gaining the source of 
the Mississippi, gradually extending themselves by the Red River to. Lake Win- 
nipic, from whence the descent of Nelson's River to York Fort would in time 
be easy. Tlie subjugation of the Indians on the Mississippi would either lead 
to their extermination by the enemy or they would be spared on the express 
condition of assisting them to expel us from upper Canada. Viewing the sub- 
ject in this light I determined to part with the Sioux and Winnebago Indians 
to give them every encouragement and assistance, & even to weaken ourselves 
here, rather than the enterprise should not succeed. I appointed Mr. Rolette 
and Mr. Anderson, & Mr. Grignion of Green Bay to be captains of volunteers, 
the two former raised iiS men in two days, whom I completed, armed and 
cloathed, the latter takes with him all the settlers of Green Bay. I held 
several councils with the Indians on this important business. * * * 

"Everything being prepared, Lt. Col. McKay sailed under a salute from 
the garrison on the 28th ultimo, taking 75 of the Michigan Fencibles and 
Canadian Volunteers & about 136 Indians. He arrived at Green Bay about 
six days after, at which place such was the great zeal displayed, that his force 
was immediately doubled, but as every arrangement had been made ])revious to 
his departure for the junction of the Winnebago & FoUsovine [FoUes Avoine^ 
or Menomonee] Indians at the portage of the Ouiseonsing River, I have scaiT.e- 
ly a doubt but that his force at that place will be at least 1500 men, besides be- 
ing afterward joined by the Sioux from River St. Peters & other tribe i. 

'■'■If successf'ul and the thing is prdcticoMe, I have directed him to de- 
scend the Mississippi and also to attack the Piorias^ Fort on the Illinois River " 

The "arrangement for the juncttion of Indians at the portage of the Ouis- 
<;onsing" was doubtless made with Dickson who had spent the i)receding winter 
in service at Lake Winnebago. ^ ^ 

» Wildcats; a name given by the French to the wild rice, — zizania aquatica, — oi our 
marshes. The Indians made much use of this as food. 

^ Fort Clark, at Peoria, built by American troops uiuhu- (i(Mi(!ral Beujamiu Howard, in 
the autumn of 181."?. 

* Thence, under date of 4th F(4)ruary, 1814, he had written as follows to John Lawe of 



42 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

When McKay and his men landed at Green Bay on the 4th or 5th of 
July, they found no American force to opjjose them. The United States gov- 
ernment had never really taken possession of the place. Here, to use a state- 
ment more precise than that of Colonel McDouall, the British received an ac- 
cession of ''thirty militia almost all old men unfit for service," and about one 
hundred Indians. We do not hear of any increase in number at the " portage 
of the Ouisconsing." Twenty-one miles from Prairie du Chien the party halted 
at the old deserted village of the Outagamies. From this place scouts were sent 
out who found that the Americans were totally unaw^are of the coming of their 
enemies. The next day, says one of the scouts (Augustus Grignon), ''We 
reached the town about ten o'clock unperceived. As this was Sunday [July 
17th], and a very pleasant day, the officers of the garrison were getting ready 
to take a pleasure ride into the country, and had McKay been an hour or two 
later the garrison would have been caught without an officer." 

McKay's force of Indians, — four or five hundred Sioux, Winnebagoes, 
Menomonees, and Ojibways, — was "perfectly useless," he tells us, and he had 
only one hundred fifty whites of whom twenty were regulars and officers. 
However he was successful in his attack on Fort Shelby, though Perkins made 
a vigorous defence. Part of the American force of one hundred fifty was 
on the "Governor Clark, Gunboat No. 1." "She goes remarkably fast," wrote 
McKay descriptively not sarcastically, "particularly down the current, being 
rowed by 32 oars.''^ Driven by the fire of the enemy she was obliged to leave 
the fort to its fate. It was surrendered on the evening of July 19th, and 
received the name of its captor. This was the only actual warfare between 
whites on Wisconsin soil in the war of 1812. No lives were lost at the taking 
of Fort Shelby. 

It required McKay's utmost exertions to save his prisoners from massacre 
by the Indians, most of whom, as in the Revolution, were hostile to the " Big 
Knives." as they called the Americans. And the whites of Prairie du Chien, 
like those of Green Bay, preferred British rule. 

To McDouall's more ambitious scheme McKay thus refers : " As to going 
down the Mississippi and returning" (to Mackinaw) "by way of Chicago, [it] 
is now rendered impracticable for the present, — no dependence whatever to 
be placed in the Indians except the Sioux." 

Green Bay, then lieutenant in the British service : 

" Fort Madison was evacuated & burnt late in the season. * St. Louis might he taken this 
spring with 5 or 000 men. * From all appearances, ev.:^n from the Democratic papers, tlie 
Americans tremble for the consequences of the war in Europe. Tliey alrca<ly figure tlie 
Russians and Cos.sacks at their doors. The Emperor of Austria has joined the Russians and 
Prussians & Swedes & their Combined forces amount to n^O.ooo men. * Lord Wcdiington 
had taken the two important Fortresses of Pampeluna tfe St. Sebastian, and was advancing 
into France. I think that Bony must be knocked up as all Europe are now in arms. 

"The crisis is not far off when I trust in (iod that the Tyrant will be liumbled, iV- the 
Scoundrel American Democrats be obliged to go on tlieir knees to Britain." 

1 But four steamboats had at that time been built on the rivers of the Mississippi valley. 
Of these the first built, called the New Orleans, had sunk a few days before (.July l.ltii), Tlie 
other three were the Comet, a diminutive vessel of twenty-five tons' burden, the \'esuvius 
and the Enterprise. 



BRITIkSH dominion. 43 

Thoixijh somewhat damaT^ed, the Governor Clark, with Agent Boilvin on 
board, made her way to Rack Island pursued "till within a league of the rapids" 
by a force of British. These turned back on meeting another American gun- 
boat which, it is probable, was part of an expedition dispatched under command 
of Lieutenant John Campbell from St. L )uis for the reinforcement of Fort 
Shelby. Hei'e Campbell at the hands of Indians under command of the famous 
Black Hawk* suffered a defeat deserved apparently by his own carelessness 
and disobedience (22 July, 1814). Twelve of his men were killed ; between 
twenty and thirty wounded. S )ou a British force went down the Mississippi 
as far as R>ck Island and there on the Illinois side erected a battery. Major 
Zachary Taylor, afterwards President of the United States, started from St. 
Louis, August 12th, with four hundred fifty men to take this, but, for want of 
artillery, was repulsed, 1814, September 6th. Again Black Hawk commanded 
the Indians, thus defeating the future President. 

Though the Americans were unsuccessful in their attempt, already men- 
tioned, to recover Mackinaw they j^ut the British in the Upper Lake region to 
serious inconvenience, and delayed the furnishing of supplies to Fort McKay. 
Nor was there an abundance when they came. " Here we are," wrote one of 
the garrison, 14th March, 1815, "posted since last fall without news from any 
quarter, and destitute of provisions, sociability, harmony or good understand- 
ing. Not even a glass of grog nor a pipe of tobacco, to pass away the time, 
and if a brief period don't bring a change for the better, I much dread the 
United Irishmen's wish will befall the place, — a bad Winter, a worse Spring, 
a bloody Summer and no king. Owing to a scarcity of Provisions here a 
gloom appears on every countenance; and if ever I take an idea to resign, I 
mean to recommend Mr. Hurtibis to supply my place as I think him the prop- 
erest person in the time of famine as he has no teeth. 

"I must conclude this long and useless letter after having endeavored in 
vain to give you an idea of the wretchedness of this country — a task for 
which nature has not qualified me. To give it in its true light would require 
the pen of an able historian." 

The war was then over. Though the British commissioners at Ghent sought 
to acquire the region on the American side of the upper Great Lakes, or more 
strictly speaking to have made it into a neutral Indian country under the pro- 
tection of their government, the treaty of Ghent to the rage and almost the 
despair of nearly all tlie whites living there, confirmed it to the United States. 

The oificial announcement of peace did not reach Captain Andrew A. 
Bulger, then in command at Prairie du Chien until the 22nd of May, 1815. 
Tlie next day he wrote to Governor Clark of St. Louis, "• I jjrojjose evacuating 
this })ost to-morrow." He did not wish to have British and American trooi)s at 
Prairie du Chien at the same time. It may be that his departure was earlier 
by one day than he had proposed to make it. For Lieutenant-Colonel McDou- 

' McDouall states that Black Hawk was in comniaiul of tlio Indians. See " Miohigran 
Historical Collections," volume XIV. page 285. 



44 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

all states that Bulger evacuated Prairie clu Chien May 23rd and arrived 
at Mackinaw on the 17th of June. Doubtless lie went l)y way of Green Bay. 
The unknown date of his departure thence marks the end of Britisli dominion 
in what is now Wisconsin.^ 

It cost McDouall a bitter struggle to give up Mackinaw. His Indian al- 
lies shared his feeling. '-We hate those Big Knives I" said a Winnel)ago chief 
at a council held at Mackinaw 1815, June 3rd. •• Our Great Father beyond the 
Great Lake is a tender parent ; but when he agreed to give u}) tliis place to the 
Big Knives, he did not reflect that he was putting us in the jiower of our great 
enemy." McDouall had reflected upon it. His reiterated argument is that 
the region between Lake Michigan and the Mississijjpi had never really been 
in the possession of the Americans, but belonged to Indian tribes that were 
allies of the British. 

His protests were in vain. Not only liad the British flag for the hast time 
floated in mastery on the banks of the upper Mississippi and at Green Bay ; it 
was now to be taken from the heights of Mackinaw. Accordingly at noon, 
1815, July 19th, the British evacuated the Malta of our fresh-water Mediter- 
ranean. McDouall withdrew to Drummond's Island. As he went royal autlior- 
ity on the southern and western shores of the upper Great Lakes passed away. 

1 Thus British influence was in ascendency at Green Bay during almost all the reign of 
George III. and he was the only English king who held sway on Avhat is now the American 
side of the upper Great Lakes. It is a curious fact that (the future) Wisconsin was under 
royal government during three of the longest reigns known to history, those of Louis XIV. 
and Louis XV. of France, and that of George III. of Great Britain. 



CHAPTEI\ VI. 



THE lONA OF OUR INLAND SEAS. 

The eastern part of the Upper PeninsuLa of wliat is now Michigan was 
known to early French explorers at Michiliniackinac. It gave name (now usu- 
ally shortened to Mackinac or, spelled phonetically, Mackinaw) to the neigh- 
horing strait through which the waters of Lake Michigan pass on their way to 
the sea. On the north side of this strait, Marquette and the fugitive Hurons 
found refuge in 1671, when they fled from Chequamegon bay to escape the 
fury of the Dakotas. The mission of St. Ignatius, thus established, was 
strengthened by a French military post. But after Cardillac founded Detroit 
in 1701, he withdrew the garrison from the older settlement, des])ite the en- 
treaties of the Jesuits, and prevailed upon many of the Indians to leave. ^ To 
prevent the desecration of their church by pagan Indians, the priests set fire to 
it with their own hands and abandoned the mission. When, in 1712, De Lou- 
vigny came by command of Governor-General De Vaudreuil to re-establish a 
fort in the Michiliniackinac region, he placed it on the south side of the strait. 
This is what is often called "Old Fort Mackinaw." During the French and 
Indian war tlie English flag was raised over Detroit 1760. November 29th, by 
Major Robert Rogers, a native of New Hampshire. Fort Mackinaw was occu- 
pied 1761, September 28th, by British troops under command of Captain Hen- 
ry Balfour 2 who, with the greater part of his force, sailed on the 1st of the fol- 
lowing October to take possession of Green Bay. A part of the war that fol- 
lowed Pontiac's conspiracy was the massacn-e of the the British garrison at Old 
Fort Mackinaw. ^ This event the story of which does not need to be told here, 



1 Thf^re was no lov(! lost between Cardillac and the .Jesuits. He thus wrote of tlu^n to 
the home government: 

" You wish me to he a friend of the Jesuits and to have no trouble witli them. After much 
reflection I have found only three ways in which this can bo accomplished ; the first is, to let 
them do as they please ; tlu; second, to do whatever they desire ; and the third, to say nothing? 
of what they do." The letter was dated at " Fort Ponchartrain, August ;n, 1708." Naid fort 
oceui)ie<l a site in what is now the business portion of I) 'troit. 

According to E. M. Sheldon's " Early History of Michigan," Cardillac was a' "zealous 
[Roman] Catholic." He favored the Franciscans. These, in a sense, are the Methodists of 
Roman Catholicism, as tlio Jesuits are its " high church " Episcopalians. 

^ Following the Wisconsin " Blue Book " and " Historical Collections " this name is spell- 
ed " Bidfour " on page 2(>. But the British " Army List " gives it as " Balfour." 

■' Pontiac's consi)iraey was so far successful that by August l.'Uh of that year (17('>H). with 



46 IN UNNAMED WIS(^ONSIN. 

took place on the 4t]i of June, 1763. Remembering, it may be, this occurence, 
Major De Peyster, who commanded there during the Revohitionary war, made 
preparations, as a measure of safety from the Americans, to remove the Brit- 
ish garrison to Michilimackinac island. On the 4th of November, 1780, his 
successor, Captain (and Lieutenant-Govei'nor) Sinclair made the formal re- 
moval. Thus the beautiful island, now the delight of summer tourists, the sup- 
posed birthplace of the legendary Hiawatha, became the center of trade and 
political influence for all the region of the upper Great Lakes. 

It was destined also to be the center of religious, educational and mission- 
ary influence. Thither the Roman Catholic congregation hauled over the ice 
from Old Mackinaw, in 1780, the timbers of their house of worship and there 
re-erected it. But for half a century they enjoyed the services of only non- 
resident priests. 

In 1800 a young man, David Bacon, was sent West by the Missionary so- 
ciety of Connecticut. " Afoot and alone he was to make his way towards the 
wilderness, with no baggage more than he could carry on his person, thank- 
fully accepting any offer of a seat for a few miles in some passing vehicle. 
Such was the equipment with which the good people of Connecticut, seventy- 
four years ago, sent forth their first missionary to the heathen." i 

His first tour was one of exploration. He arrived at Detroit on the 11th 
of September, 1800. Thence he went northward as far as Harson's Island. 
River St. Clair. Having returned to New England he was married and or- 
dained. Again he came to Michigan and settled at Detroit. Here was born 
19th February, 1802, his son Leonard, afterwards the famous New Haven pas- 
tor and member of the Yale corporation. In June, 1802, Mr. Bacon removed 
to Mackinaw and thus became the first Protestant missionary in the region of 
the u^jper Great Lakes. Great were the obstacles to his work, among the 
whites as well as the Indians, both there and Detroit. Those whom he s])eaks 
of as "bigoted, persecuting papists" of course opposed his work. British in- 
fluence, still strong in these regions, was against him because he was a Yankee, 
by which was meant an American. The fur traders did not wish to have the 
Indians become civilized. It would seem that Mr. Bacon's best and almost 
only friends were the officers of the United States army. 

This first Protestant mission at Mackinaw ended with the removal of the 
missionary about the 1st of August, 1804. A canoe voyage from Detroit to 
Cleveland took him with wife and two infants to what was then known as "New 
Connecticut" (Western Reserve). Mr. Bacon was one of those who impressed 
Puritanism upon Northern Ohio, the land of Giddings and Garfield, of Ober- 
lin college and Western Resei've university. 

Before the clash of arms in 1812, there was in the fur trade a commer- 
cial war of which Mackinaw was in a sense the center and in which John Jacob 

the exception of the garrison at Detroit, there was not a British soldier in the region of the 
upper Great Lakes. 

• Congregational Quarterly, .January, 187G. 



THE lONA OF OUR INLAND SEAS. 47 

Astor, his partner, Wilson Price Hunt, and others, represented the American 
cause. A sturdy Scotchman, Ramsey Crooks, was among Astor's trusted lieu- 
tenants. Starting from Mackinaw about the 12th of August, 1809, Hunt and 
Crooks made their way by the Fox- Wisconsin route, ^ the Mississippi and the 
Missouri to the Rocky mountains and thence to the Pacific. They are sure of 
abiding renown for Irving has written of them in his " Astoria." 

The importance of Mackinaw both in the Revolution and in the second 
war with Britain has been shown. With tlie return of peace came better sub- 
jects for the historian than strife and bloodshed. Again Mackinaw became the 
center of an extensive fur trade. By favoring legislation the American Fur 
company, in which Astor had a controlling interest, was able to command a 
great part of the commerce. of the Northwest. At no time, perhaps, was it 
more prosperous than in 1820. 

In this year, June 16th, Jedidiah Morse, D. D., father of S. F. B. Morse, 
the inventor of the telegraph, landed at Mackinaw.^ He was accompanied by 
his son Richard Gary Morse, long one of the proprietors of the "New York 
Observer," who wrote thus of their stay : 

"There had not been a Protestant sermon preached in the place for ten 
years or more. Daring our fortnight's stay the gospel was preached by us in 
the court house to full and attentive audiences. At his [Dr. Morse's] sugges- 
tion and by his personal aid a Sabbatli school and a day school were formed 
for the children ; a Bible and Tract society." From Mackinaw, as already 
stated, our travelers went to Green Bay. 

A letter written by Dr. Morse soon after his return to New Haven shows 
his interest in supplying the people at Mackinaw with a pastor. He had come 
west not only under commission from the United States government, — of 
which service we shall soon hear, — but also as agent of the Northern Mission- 
ary society of New York. ? This organization was soon absorbed by another, 

' They had much difficulty in securing a crew. Irving tluis describes the only kind of 
men to be had: " Like sailors, the Canarlian voyagjrs gensrally pr.st'acaa long cruise with a 
carouse. They have their cronies, their brothers, their cousins, their wives, their sweet- 
hearts, all to be entertained at their expense. They feast, they tiddle, they drink, they sing, 
they dance, they frolic and fight, until they are mad so niaiiy drunken Indians. « * * 
It was with the utmost difficulty they could be extricated from the clutches of the publicans 
[liquor sellers], and the embraces of their pot companions, who followed them to the water's 
edge with many a hug, a kiss on each cheek and a maudlin benediction in Canadian Fr(?nch." 

^ Dr. Morse, born 17G1, August 23rd', died 182(;, June iith, was one of the corporate mem- 
bers of the American Board, and was once a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard 
college. When, 1805, February Sth, the corporation elected Henry Ware, .Jr., a Unitarian, to 
the Hollis professorship of divinity. Dr. Morse, as one of the overseers, strongly opposed the 
confirmation of their action which he regarded as a breach of trust. For one of the condi- 
tions of the gift establishing the profes.sorship was that the incumbent should be, in rcdigion, 
of orthodox belief. Following the election of Ware, Dr. Morse re-signed his office as ov(^rseer. 

^ "Organized in 1707. Albany, New York, .seems to have been its head(|uartors. It was 
'absorbed,' in your fitting term, about 1821. Its missions, if lam not mistaken, wtsre chieHy 
among Indians in the state of New York. Dr. Chester, a noble man of great influence, was- 
the pastor of one of the principal churches in that city, and was coimected with the North- 
ern Missionary society perhaps as chairman or president. His grandson is in Milwaukee- 
Rev. William Cluistor, pastor of Immanuel Presbyterian church." — Rev. .Iohn C. Lowrik, of 
the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, 1808, March ;^l.st. 



4S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

and this United Foreign Missionary society, as it was called, represent- 
ing the Presbyterian, the (then Dutch) Reformed and the Associate Re- 
formed churches, re-established the mission at Mackinaw which, for various 
reasons, finds place in our Wisconsin history. Here were the headquarters of 
our missionary work for this part of the woi-Id. As we have seen the story of 
Wisconsin can not be told without reference to that of Mackinaw. And at one 
time, February, 1828, the committee on Territories in the House of Represen- 
tatives was conmiitted to the project of making the Upper Peninsula (now) of 
Michigan with the adjacent islands, Mackinaw among them, a part of the pro- 
posed Territory of "Wiskonsin," a name then recently substituted in congres- 
sional proceedings for "Chii^pewau." 

In 1822 Rev. William Montague Ferry visited Mackinaw and organized a 
church there. 1 The following statement of special need for Christian work is 
from the missionary report of a later year : 

" It had long been a common, though not a universal practice, among the 
many traders, clerks and other whites in this whole region to live with Indian 
women, either as wives or concubines, and to desert them and their children on 
returning to civilized life. This practice was introduced while the French lield 
possession of Canada, and the greater part of the half-breeds were still of 
French descent. They and many of the Indians were nominally Roman Cath- 
olics, but were almost entirely ignorant of Christianity." 

Mr. Ferry returned next year with his wife, arriving 19th October, 1823. 
The mission and boarding school which formed i)art of his plan was ()])ened 
Monday, 3rd of the following November, with twelve Indian children. The 
school increased and at one time had an attendance of one hundred eighty. 
The children from the village attended as day pupils, and those from the sev- 
eral tribes as boarders. These were collected from the whole region extending 
from the white settlements south of the (.Jreat Lakes to Red River and Lake 
Athabasca. The children were trained in habits of industry, taught trades and 
how to cultivate the soil, besides receiving a common-school education. Most 
of the Ojibway traders s'ent their half-breed children to this school. "Great 
good was desseminated from it, which spread over the whole Northwest terri- 
tory. Many of our most promising half-breeds, now engaged as missionaries 
or in mercantile pursuits, received their education at the Mackinaw mission. 
After its dissolution such of the traders as were financially a1)le sent their child- 
dren to receive an education in some of the Eastern states." ^ 

The school was first held in the old court house. In 1825, the building 
now known as the " Mission House," was erected for missionary and school })ur- 
poses. 3 

^ Previous to the location of this mission, JVIr. Ferry spent a year in Mackinaw, in 
wiiicli time he organized a clun-eh ; persuaded the inhahitauts, generally, to ahandoii secular 
employments on the Sahhath, and attend public worship."— Missionary Gazetteer by. Rev. 
Walter Ghapin, of Woodstock, V'(U-mont. 

'^ " Histoi-y of the Ojibways," by William Whipple Warren. 

•' During the late war this old mission house was used for a time as the home of certain 



THE lONA OF OUR INLAND SEAS. 4i> 

In this same year the United Foreign Missionary society, ' which, as al- 
ready stated, had previously absorbed the Northern Missionary society, gave 
up its own distinctive name and work by union with the American Board. 
This action was ratified the following year and. in in the proceedings of the 
Board for 1827, we iind — quoted from above — its first report, of the Macki- 
naw mission. In August of that year, there were one hundred twelve pupils 
in the boarding school, and there had been several interesting cases of conver- 
sion. ^ French priests occasionally visited this region and opposed this mission 
to the extent of their power. 

Thus the mission grappled at once with heathenism and a corrupted form 
of Chi'istianity. It has a history written in the lives of men and women who 
have left their imprint upon all this region. It made Mackinaw a St. Co- 
lumba's island of the West. 

Among those who became earnest Christians in a revival there, as early as 
1826, was Lyman Marcus Warren, a trader in the employ of the American 
Fur company. He at once desired that a mission be established at his trading 
post. La Pointe, on the largest of the many islands in Chequamegon Bay, not 
far from the scene of the labors of Allouez and Marquette more than one hun- 
dred fifty years before. Then, among others, Hurons dwelt there, but Mr. 
Warren's Indian neighbors were Ojibways. His earnest entreaty reached some 
students at Hamilton college, and in response to it came, in 1827, Rev. Jedidiah 
Dwight Stevens who fills so large a place in the early history of our Wisconsin 
churches. He and his wife arrived July 21st. He came with the purpose of 
establishing a mission among the Ojibways. But Mr. Ferry thought that this 
project was premature. Accordingly Mr. Stevens remained at Mackinaw to 
.strengthen the mission there and, to use his own words, "was at once installed 
principal of the male department of the school. There was gathered a motley 
mass of boys from five to twenty years of age, of various colors, tongues and 
bloods, pure and mixed, French and English, Irish, Scotch, American and In- 
dian; nearly all born of heathen mothers. These boys were to be educated and 

state prisoners from Tennessee. 

' Formed in New York City in 1817 by a joint eommittee of the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian church, the General Synod of the Reformed Dutch church, and tlie General 
Synod of the Associate Reformed church. 

2 Yet the school failed to accomplish the object for which it was founded. " In 182(>-7," 
says the late A. G. Ellis, then a missionary teacher at Green Bay, " I was requested [by the 
Episcopal church committee] to acquire all the information possible of the best manner of 
organizing and conducting a large boarding school for Indian children." He visited Mack- 
inaw. "Mr. Ferry received me courteously. I acquainted him with the object of my inquir- 
ies; that they were made in behalf of the committee of the Ei)iscopal church, who designed 
establishing such a school at Green Bay. Hii candidly advised against it and gave his rea- 
sons: informing me that this school, which had been put in optsration at great e.vpensis had 
failed of tlie object sought, and that he had already received instructions to reduce it in 
numbers as fast as could be done, and eventually discontinue it entirely; that with all their 
eiuleavorsthey had been able to secure the entrance into it of comparatively very few Indian 
cliildren; that the gr(iat proportion of their nearly two hundred attiindants were children of 
Indian trad(;rs, who were reaping all the benefits of education from which th(^ Indian 
children were being almost wholly excluded." Accordingly, Mr. Ellis rc^ported against 
attemptiiHj to establish a lik(! school at (ireen Bay. 

But was it not as good a thing to educate a half-breed as an Indian '.' 



50 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

molded into a Christian civilization and religion, and made to be educators of 

the tribes now perishing in heathenism." 

As we soon leave Mackinaw to follow Mr. Stevens on more adventurous 
service, we may give an epitome of the remaining history of the mission there. 
The building known as the "mission church " was erected in 1830. It was ded- 
icated 1831, March 4th. As it was thought that the Indian children could be 
more advantageously educated near their homes, the school which according 
to the "Missionary Herald" for June, 1829, had numbered one hundred sixty 
or one hundred seventy, including thirty or forty from the village of Mackinaw, 
was, as we have learned, purposely made smaller. Mr. Ferry's health failed 
and 6th August, 1834, he was released from missionary service. ^ During his 
stay at Mackinaw there was born to him a son, Thomas White Ferry, who, on 
the death of the late Hon. Henry Wilson became acting Vice-President of the 
United States. In 1836 the mission was discontinued. Mackinaw had ceased 
to be a place of rendezvous for the Indians and of trade for the whites. The 
island was almost deserted until it became a place of resort for summer visitors. 
The old church gave to other communities, — Green Bay and La Pointe among 
them, — ^its membership and its very life. The work of the mission passed to 
other stations in some of which it is still continued. 

As a picture of what it accomplished, the following from " Wau-bun, the 
' Early Day,' in the North-West," is suggestive, though colored no doubt by the 
warmth of friendship and brightened by the gladness of a young wife's jour- 
ney to a new home in a land which she had always regarded as a region of 
romance. At Fort Winnebago, whither at this time, September, 1830. she and 
her husband were going, we shall again meet the writer, Mrs. John H. Kinzie, 
well known in the early history of Chicago: 

" We were received with the most affectionate cordiality by Mr. and Mrs. 
Stuart, at whose hospitable mansion we had been for some days expected. Af- 
ter a season of pleasant conversation, the servants were assembled, the chapter 
of God's wox'd was solemnly read, the hymn chanted, the prayer of praise and 
thanksgiving offered, and we were conducted to our place of repose. 

"It is not my purpose here to attempt a portrait of those noble friends 
whom I thus met for the first time. To an abler pen than mine should be as- 
signed the honor of writing the biography of Robert Stuart. All who have 
enjoyed the happiness of his acquaintance, or still more, a sojourn under his 
hospitable roof, will carry with them, to their latest hour, the impress of his 
noble bearing, his genial humor, his untiring benevolence, his upright, uncom- 
promising adherence to principle, his ardent philanthropy, his noble disinterest- 

^ Mr. Ferry was one of live ministers who, in 1827, established the presbytery of Detroit. 
From Mackinaw he removed to what is now Grand Haven, Michigan. His was tlie lirst white 
family that settled there. They landed Sabbatlj, 2nd November, 1834. Directly the father 
called them into a log house,— he had been at the place previously himself,— and preaclied 
from the text: "For who hath despised the day of small things';'" He died 18(;7, December 
.30th, honoi-ed and beloved. By will, he left to various ol).iects of Christian benevolence one 
hundred forty-seven thousand dollars. Ferry Hall, Lake Forest university, Illinois, bears his 
name. 



THE lONA OF OUR INLAND SEAS. 51 

edness. Irving in his ' Astoria,' and Franchere in his ' Narrative,' give many 
striking traits of his early character, together with events of his history of 
thrilling and romantic interest, but both have left the most valuable portion un- 
said, namely, his after-life as a Christian gentleman. 

'' Michilimackinac I that gem of the lakes I How bright and beautiful it 
looked as we walked abroad on the following morning! The object of our 
early walk was to visit the mission house and school. This was an object of 
especial interest to Mr. and Mrs. Stuart. They had lived many years on the 
island, and had witnessed its transformation, through God's blessing on Chris- 
tian efforts, from a worldly, dissipated community to one of which it might 
almost be said, 'Religion was every man's business.' " 

The commercial ruin of Mackinaw was brought about by the use of larger 
vessels in the Indian trade, especially that on Lake Superior. This, in the way 
of navigation, was cut off from the other lakes by the falls in the St. Mary's 
river. As the first canal around the "Sault" was not completed until 1855, 
May 19th, vessels needed on Lake Superior in the early years had to be built 
or put together there. That done. La Pointe became, in a sense, the successor 
to Mackinaw. 



CHAPTEE\ VII. 



DR. MORSE AND HIS ERRAND IN THE WEST. 

Within little more than five years of the time when the British flag was 
floating at Green Bay, Dr. Jedidiah Morse held public religious service in Fort 
Howard. He was the first Congregational minister, and, so far as is known, 
the first Protestant minister, who ever preached in the part of Michigan Terri- 
tory that is now Wisconsin. He came as did Jean Nicolet, the first explorer of 
this region, by the broad way of the Great Lakes. Leaving Mackinaw on the 
3rd of July, 1820, he attended, at L'Arbre Croche, a council held with the 
Ottawa Indians, and arrived at Fort Howard July 7th. Having come under a 
commission issued by the Secretary of War, he was made the guest of Colonel 
Joseph Lee Smith, i commandant at the post. Dr. Morse's mission was one of 
investigation into the condition and needs of the Indians of the West and 
South. He made it part of his duty to aid a movement which, after vexatious 
delays, provided a home for those who are known in the history of our state as 
the "New York Indians." These aborigines were the first emigrants from any 
of the older states who came with the purpose of making here their perma- 
nent homes. With Dr. Morse and his service, which was especially in behalf 
of the little tribe of Indians commonly called Stockbridges, begins properly 
not only the histoi-y of Congregationalism in Wisconsin but almost of Cliristian 
civilization therein. He was the herald of a great company of the universal 
church. 

As Dr. Morse did not leave Green Bay until the 23rd of July, it is prob- 
able that he or his son held service in the fort on both the Sabbaths of their 
stay, the 9th and the 16th. 

A letter written at " Mackinaw, July 25th. 1820," and addressed to " Mr. 
John Law, 2 Green Bay," shows on what errands Dr. Morse went thither, and 
implies certain sadly defective social condiitons that then prevailed there : 

"I was sorry to leave Green Bay without having another interview with 
you & your friends on subjects on which we had conversed relating to the In- 
dians, & to the establishment of a school for the children of your village.. This 
was the principal business left unfinished. A few hours employed together 

* Colonel Smith was a native of New Britain, Connecticut, and the father of Brigadier- 
General Edniond Kirby Smith of the Confederate army. 

^ Mr. John Lawe. The letter itself I copy by permission of Herbert Battles Tanner, M. D. 



DR. MORSE AND HIS ERRAND Ii\ THE WEST. 53 

wjuld have completed it. I have left it with Dr. C^m^tock to complete it with 
you, & to forward to me the result at this place before I shall quit it — whh will 
be in the course of 10 days or probably a fortnight. — Having been expected by 
this opp'y to write you, I improve it to drop you a line in order to aid the ac- 
cjmplishment of this business, that I may have the result by the return of this 
vessel — whh will furnish you a good opp'y for you to write me. — I wish par- 
tlculai'ly to kniw definitely what funds cxn be raised & calculated on for the 
support of a School for the children of mixed blood in your village. — Or if 
you prefer it, a subscription School, to embrace the children of white parents 
in the village, and of the O.fiaers of the Garrison. — Dr. Comstock suggested 
this last idea. I had supp >sed your intention was to have a school for children 
of mixed blood only & that your subscription was intended to let me know 
what support you were willing to give to such a school. If this was your idea, 
as I suppose, you have only to head a subscription to suit yourselves, & to put 
your names, & annex the sum you ai*e willing to give yearly for one or more 
years — with liberty to send as many children as you please — or so much for 
every child you may send — adding what you will do as to furnishing a School 
room, house & provisions for the Instructor in addition. ■ I shall then know 
what will be necessary to supply in addition, if any, & thus matters would be 
prepared for me to act. Without something like this I have no basis to pro- 
ceed upon. 

"If you prefer a subscription School to embrace white children — accord- 
ing to Dr. Cjmstock's idea — ^you might make up probably a fall school in this 
way — and another might then be established at the public expense for the 
children of those who are unable to pay much, or perhaps nothing. — I wish 
your letter in answer to this, may be explicit on this subject. ^ 

"If you and your friends will complete the communications you were so 
good as to make to me in part, relative to the Indians with whose country 
yon are familiarly acquainted, I shall be much obliged. From the ques- 
tions I asked concerning the Menominees, & their country, you will know what 
I wish concerning the Winnebagoes (of wJiom I have your information in jmrt) 
of the Sacs, Sioux, and any other tribes with wiiom you are acquainted — 2)ar- 
ticiilarly their number, distinguishing niin, w.)men & children — the limits & 
situation of thair territory, the sjil & prodactioas, the character, dispositions & 
habits of the Indians — means of subsistence &c. — If you, Sir, & the Gentle- 
men, will sit down, as we did, for an hour or two with Dr. Comstock, and let 
him put on paper y.)ur remarks for me, you will add much to the obligation I 
am already under to you. — 

"I would have written you this befoi'e I left Green Bay — but I had ex- 
pected a personal interview till it was too late to do it. 

'•We had a passage of 40 hours only to this place. In a few days we 

' Apparently tliere was no school at (Jreon Bay wlion Dr. Mors3 visit jd the place. How- 
ever, th(!r(! liad bsen tliree or more, the first of whicli was established in the autumn of 1817. 
Of this and others that succeeded it, we shall hear later. 



54 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

visit the Saut & back here for a few days more, & then shall go on to Detroit 

& home. 

The situation of the inhabitants of your village has deeply interested my 
feelings, & I shall do what I can for your relief & welfare — With my regards 
to your associates, I am, Dr. Sir, with esteem 

Your obdt Servt. 

Jedh. Morse." 

Though a nobler destiny, as most will think, has come to Wisc;)nsin than 
Dr. Morse planned for her, yet his was a benevolent design. It is evident 
from his report to the secretary of war that he wished the country west of Lake 
Michigan to be made a permanent home for the Indians. " Let regulations be 
made," he said, ''to prohibit the introduction of white settlers within the limits 
of this territory, — that is, within limits bounded south by Illinois, east by Mich- 
igan, north by Superior and west by the Mississippi. Let this territory be re- 
served exclusively for Indians, in which to make the proposed experiment of 
gathering into one body as many of the scattered and other Indians as may 
choose to settle there, — to be educated, become citizens, and in due time to be 
admitted to all the privileges common to other territories and states of the Un- 
ion. Such a course would probably save the Indians." The worthy doctor 
had also a plan for endowing a college in the proposed new Territory. " The 
funds l)elonging to Moor's Indian school, which is connected at present with 
Dartmouth college, together with funds in the treasury of Harvard college and 
of the society for propagating the Gospel am ang the Indians and others in 
North America might be appropriated in whole or in part to this institution." 
He even had hopes of making it an international institution, and thus securing 
also funds held in Great Britain for Indian education. 

Mr. Sergeant also, the Stockbridge pastor, had liis own philanthropic hope : 
"Means will now be used to obtain an act of Congress to exclude spirituous 
li(pior and white heathen from Green Bay." There is heart-ache under our 
smile as we read the old man's fond dream. Spirituous liqn;)r, we l)elieve. has 
not been wholly excluded from Green Bay, though it is to be presumed, of 
course, that there are no white heathen there. 

In 1830 the Indians told Mr. Colton, of whose visit to Green Bay we 
shall hear later, that Dr. Morse advising removal from New York to wliat w.is 
so soon to become Wisconsin said to them in all sincerity, things like tliese : 
"You will never again be disturbed. The white man will never go there. He 
will never desire those lands. They are too far off." From which it appears 
that a man might be an eminent geographer, as Dr. Morse was, and yet be mis- 
taken as to the progress of settlement. 

P^fforts were made to secure land west of Like IMichigan not only for the 
Stockbridges and an allied tribe the Munsees, i but also for the remnants of the 

1 A branch of the Dalawares (Leiii-Lennappos). Tlie Mansses S3em to liave been scat- 
tered in consequence of havuig taktMi sides against the colonists in the AniRrican R-Jvolutioii. 
From homes in New York, Canada and perhaps Indiana and elsewhere, some came in later 



DR. MORSE AND HIS ERRAND IN THE WEST. ;") 

Iroquois or Six Nations, ^ then living in New York. To tliis end thvee parties 
were working, Dr. Morse that the Stock!)ridges and others might have a home 
free from liquor and "white heathen" the Ogden Land Company of New York 
because they wanted the land held in that state, by the Six Nations ; and Elea- 
zar Williams, an E})isc()})al missionary among the Oneidas. who dreamed of 
establishing a great Indian confederacy in the West, of which he, presumably, 
was to be the head. His schemes accorded well with the i)lans of the Ogden 
company, but were finally baffled because tlie great majority of the Iroquois, 
unlike the Stockbridges, did not wish to leave New York. 

This project of settling Indians from New York on lands in the Green Bay 
region had the hearty sup])ort of John Caldwell Calhoun, then secretary of 
war, who is more than suspected of having entertained the plan of turning the 
whole Wisconsin region into an Indian territory in order to reduce the number 
of possible free states. In his official report for 1818 Mr. Calhoun pro2)osed 
the foi'ination of two reservations for the Indians, one in the northern and the 
other in the sjuthern p.irt of the vast region then occupied by the various 
tribes. With this mative on the part of many of its members, Congress had 
enlarged Illinois beyond the requirement of the ordinance of 1787. It was 
thought that Wisconsin thus reduced in size, would never have population 
enough to claim admission as a state into the Union. 

We have seen of what sort were the fii'st white settlers in the Wisconsin 
region, and have recognized their unfitness and inability to lay the foundations 
of a state. It may be said of them that they were half-civilized whites hostile 
to the colonists and to the new nation called into existence by the Revolution ; 
now treaties were made to provide for the coming hither of half-civilized In- 
dians loyal to the United States. 

*' Previous to 1820, and in that year especially, the government of the 
United States took active and efficient measures to facilitate the purchase of a 
tract of land in the Northwestern Territory for the accommodation and future 
settlement of the New York Indians. This was done for the avowed purpose of 
carrying into effect beneficially, a compromise with the Stockbridge and Munsee 
Indians for lands on the White river, purchased by the Delawares and partly 
owned by the former ; and to accommodate them and their red brethren of New 



years to Wisconsin wlijro tliey liavo unitMlwith tli'3 Stockbrids'-s. 

1 These were the Mohawks, Oneidas. Oaoudag-as, Cayugas, S:3necas and Tiiscaroras. Un- 
til the last-nam'id triba, defeated in 1712 and driven from their soutliern lioin ;, joined their 
nortliern brethr>!n then or two — possibly three— years hiter, tlie Iroiiuois confederacy was 
often called tlie Five Nations. " Mas.sawoniekes " was the name i^'iven tlieni by the Virginia 
and Southern Indians. With allied Hurons and Mississaquas (Algonquians from Canada) they 
wore called Mingoes by the English. A name used among thems 'lv(^s was Ko nosh-o ni. They 
wer.ii proud enough to sp.^ak of thniiselves collectively as 0;igu\dionwe [Sup.-rior JM -n]. Iro 
(liiois is a French adaptation probably, says Charlevoix, of the native word luro, used to con- 
clude a speech, and koae, an exclamation. Possible derivations are from ierokwa, the inde- 
terminate form of the verb to smoke, signifying "they who snmkc;" from the Cayuga form 
of the word for a bear, iakival; and from tlu^ Algonquian iriii, true or real ; and ako, a snake, 
with the French termination nis. Conu>are with this last Schoolcraft's derivation of Nadoue- 
sionx (page 3). 

See "Report of the fUirean of Ethnnlogy for lSHr>-6," iiag<' 77. 



50 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

York with a permanent home remote from the vicinity of any white settlement 
and the temptation to the use of ardent spirits, that 'bane of Indian improvement.' 
It was a desirable object with the government to place these friendly Indians, 
who had made desirable advances in civilization and im )rov^em3nt, on a distant 
outpost where they might serve to check or harm3nlz3 the disaffected or hostile 
savages of that region. Their attachment to the American cau^e and the as- 
sistance they afforded in the late war was also avowed as an additional reason 
for the extension to them of the fostering care of the governm3nt."i 

To secure land near Green Bay for the New York Indians was a long 
struggle rendered more difficult by the fact that most of them were well eon- 
tent to stay where they were. Nor was their coming desired by the few whites 
then at and about the Bay. To nip in the bill the whole plan of Indian settle- 
ment thereabout, and for other reasons, Colonel John Bowyer, Indian agent at 
Green Bay, bought of the Menomonees, for an annuity of $800, a tract of land 
forty miles square, "on both sides of Fox river, extending from the mouth of 
that stream upwards." Of this transaction Dr. Morse thus wrote: "We 
found the Menomonees of Green Bay distressed by an attempt of wicked spec- 
ulators to defraud them of valuable lands." Aided by the Stockbridges Di-. 
Morse took an active part in securing the rejection of this treaty. President 
Monroe did not even submit it to the Senate. 

In 1821, though at first, — influenced by the traders and the French, — the 
Indians of the Green Bay region, — Menomonees and Winnebagoes, — refused 
any concession whatever, an agreement, or "treaty," was made, August 18th, 
by which they ceded to the Not-ta-ways, ^ as they called the New York Indians, 
a strip of land four or five miles wide, crossing Fox river at right angles, with 
the "Little Chute" (now Little Kaukauna), as its center, anl extending north- 
west and southeast as far as the Menomonees and Winnebagoes held the land. 
Solomon U. Hendi'ick^ and four others represented the Stockbridges ; Riifus 
Turkey (Indian name Katakosakont), the Munsees. 

As more land was needed an effort was made next year to secure it. John 
Sergeant of the third generation was one of those who represented the United 
States government which, however, was party neither to this treaty nor to the 
one of the year before. Wawaixquekoh. or " Last Night," was the Munsee 
deputy ; Solomon U. Handrick was spokesmm for the Stockbridges. He ad- 
dressed the Wisconsin Indians as "grandchildren," a relationship which was 
duly acknowledged. In their own languages, the Stockbridges and Menomo- 
nees understood each other."* Tlie Winnebagoes utterly refused any extension 

' Piirt of an official report of a council held in August, 18 JO, signed by Erastus Root and 
.James McCall, two of the three United States commissioaers. The third was John T. Mason. 
A prand-daughter of Mr. McCall'.s, Marie Miner, wife of Charles H. Richards, long of Mvd- 
ison, now of Philadelphia, is well known in Wisconsin. 

2 Meaning doubtless tlieOii3idas an 1 oth ir troiuois. SiO not 3 on pag; 5.5. The name 
Nottaway, or Nadowa, is not properly applicable to th;; Stockbridges. It is borne specifically 
by an almost extinct tribe in Virginia,— a tribe which maybe an oifslioot from the Tusca- 
roras. 

* The " U " probably stands for his Indiiin name Uiihaunnowwaunmut. 

4 Botli tribes are of Algonquian stock and language. Of different race and speech are 



I)H. MOUSE AND HIS KIIKANI) IN THE WEST. r>7 

of the grant of the year hefore, and left the council. But, 1822, September 
23rd, the Menomonees made the New York Indians joint occupants of their 
territory. This treaty was afterward disowned by them, — an act that made 
no end of trouble. However, before this was done the treaty was ratified by 
President Monroe with a reduction of the limits within which the new-comers 
might settle. 

In speaking of the favorable terms given by the Menomonees in 1822, A. 
G. Ellis says: "These Green Bay Indians, esj)ecially the Menomonees, were 
greatly under the influence of the French inhabitants, with whom they were 
largely intermarried. The better class of these French peojjle had come to set 
a high estimate on education ; they were at that very time endeavoring to get 
English schools established in the settlement. * * The Indians as 

well as the French people comj)reliended the importance " of a proposition to 
establish schools; "and the latter especially noticed that many of the New 
York Indian deputies wore the dress of civilization; that they spoke the white 
men's language, and even some of them could read books and write on paper." i 

In 1827, August 11th, a treaty was made with the Green Bay Indians by 
the United States government. By this treaty of Little Butte des Morts, as it 
is called, the Winnebagoes and Menomonees sold land to the United States 
without any regard to their former sales to the New York Indians, whose 
claims, however, were referred to the President for arbitration. But the Sen- 
ate took care that " said treaty shall not impair or affect any rights " of the New 
York Indians. 

An attempt at adjustment was made by a council which held an eight 
days' session beginning on the 24th of August, 1830. Commissioners Root, 
McCall and Mason represented the United States ; John Metoxen, John W. 
Qninney, B. Konkapot, Jacob Chicks and Andrew Miller, the Stockbridges ; 
William Dick. N. Towles and .lohn Jonston, the Brothertowns ; John Anthony, 
Daniel Bi-ead, Henry Powles, Condy Stevens and N. Autsequitt, the Oneidas. 
Eleazar Williams assumed to represent the St. Regis tribe, — which was not 
then in the Wisconsin region and never intended to remove thither. Oshkosh, "^ 
then head chief of the Menomonees refused to acknowledge that the New York 
Indians had any right to land in the Green Bay region, adding that as they were 
here they might stay during good behavior. Mr. Colton was a witness of the 
proceedings of this council. His words of praise are for the New York 
Indians, who in ''moral worth and good manners towered above every- 
thing around them, not excepting the white ])oj)ulation. Among them I 
could be sure of exemption from anything vidgar, profane or indecent." Of 
one, already named, he thus speaks: "Metoxen is about sixty years of age, an 
exemplary Christian, of uncommon meekness, a chief ruler in the civil and relig- 

the \Vinnel):igo3s who usu a dialect of tlui Siouaii (Sioux) tongue and aro akin to the Dakotas. 

' "Wisconsin Historical C<jl lections," voliinu^ VIII., page ;v.V.}. 

2 Who is mentioned in Dr. John II. Hanson's " Lost Prince " as "Oiscoss, nlias Claw:"— 
aspiiliins? and designation for which Eleazar Williams is prohahly re.sponsihlo. In tlie treaty 
as printed tlie name is spelled Oskoslie. It was at tliis council that he wiis made head chief. 



58 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

ious concerns of his tribe." Mr. Colton tells that the New York Indians said 
little, relying on written statements of the treaties already made. He gives, 
however, the following report of a speech by Metoxen. ^ 

" Brothers : hear what I have to say. Thanks to the Great Spirit who has 
brought your faces to our faces in health and peace. * * May the 

chain of friendship which has so long bound us together, still bind us wliile the 
sun comes up in the Great Lakes and goes down in our forest. 

" Brothers : you know we have always been friends of our great father 
the President who has promised to keep off our enemies, if we will help him 
keep off his enemies. * * Our father said we should keep the peace 

between him and the wild people of the Northwest, that he would gives us and 
our children this land forever, that he would never let his white children come 
among us to sell our people strong water, and cheat them and get away our 
land. * * We were glad at his words. We let his white children 

take away our lands, and we took our wives and om" children in our arms, and 
came across the Great Lakes to live here on the Fox river. We lighted the 
council fire and made peace with our brethren, the Winnebagoes and Menomo- 
nees. We gave them money for lands. They said they were glad to have us 
come and live among them, and that we would all be one people. They prom- 
ised to leave hunting and fishing and raise corn like us, and that their women 
should spin like our women. * * You see, brothers, the white man 

is here ; he has brought the strong water to sell to our people. * * The 
Indian is good for nothing when he can get strong water. It makes him mad. 
He will not work, he will whip his wife and his child, and perhaps kill one to 
be sorry for it the next day when he can not help it. * * The wliite 

man tells our brethren that we are their enemies. * * that if they 

will get back the lands which they sold to us they can sell them again to the 
whites. * * Three years ago our brethren received a great bag of 

money from the city of Washington to buy these very lands on Fox river which 
they had once sold to us. 

"Brothers: there is no longer peace between us and our brethren here." 

In part this is a temperance speech. Who in Wisconsin spoke earlier on 
this subject? 

On the last day of the council, says Mr. Colton, '"John Metoxen (than 
whom a man of more exalted worth can not be found on earth) addressed him- 
self to his brethren of the Menomonees and Winnebagoes in a strain most sub- 
lime and touching. By his language and manner he brought us into the pres- 
ence of God so that we felt ourselves to be there." A part of his speech Mr. 
Colton reports to us in the following words : 

" Brothers : I speak now both to my white and red ])rothers and to all wlio 
are here. I am an old man and my spirit will soon be with the spirits of my 

^ It is to be remembered that this and tlie other report given by Mr. Colton are merely 
from memory. He took notes at the time hut did not have them when lie prepared for piihli- 
cation his book.— "Tour of the American Lakes," — from which these extracts are taken. 



1)K. MORSE AM) HIS I^RUAXD IN THP: WEST. nj) 

fathers. I have been at the head of my people for many years. I have been 
anxious for them. AVhen I came before them from New York to Green Bay I 
thouglit that tliey would have jjeace. But I see that I must go down to the 
grave without comfort. It is not peace. All the doings in this coun<-il show 
that there is no rest for my people who came here for rest. 

" I wish to say a word to tlie Winnebagoes and Menomonees. It is not 
good that the white man has stood between us and kept us ajiart. We told 
you that there was no more room for us among the graves of our fathers, 
because the white man had come there. You took us by the hand and said 
'We are glad to see you. Here is our country. Come and live among us.' 
We said to you, 'Give us land that we may call our own, and we will })ay you 
for it.' Y'ou did so, and we made a covenant. * * 

" I speak again to my white brothers. * * We left our land in 

the east country and came here on the understanding of those treaties. * 

* Y'ou offer to make a new^ treaty in the name of our great father. Make 

the old treaty good, brothers, and then, if there be any need, we shall have 
some reason to trust in a new one. 

'• We have learned one good thing from the white man, to trust in the 
white man's God. We feel that we need to trust him now. We are injured, 
and I know not what new injuries await the destiny of my people. I shall go 
down to the grave thinking of the words of King David's son which I read in 
the book presented to my father's father by your father's father from over the 
big salt lake : ' So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done 
under the sun : and behold the tearvS of such as were oppressed, and they had 
no comforter; and on the side of their opjjressors there was power; but they 
had no comforter.' 

"God is witness of our engagements, God will reward us a<'cordin<'- to our 
deeds. 

"Brothers I have done." 

The best account we have of this council is to be found in the journal 
kept by Commissioner McCall. He attempts none l)ut the l)riefest re])ort of 
any of the speeches and of those by Metoxen he says nothing. Under date of 
August 27th, Friday, the journal says: "There are now 1740 Indians attend- 
ing. * * Oushcoush arose and stated that the [Menomonees] had 
not sold the Wappinackies any land." On Saturday the Wappinackies [New 
York Indians] laid claim to a tract on Fox river " making about 748,800 acres." 
They were offered by the Menomonees and Winnsbagoes ''something less than 
one-third of the amount asked." The proposition of the commissioners •' was 
to give the New Y''ork Indians about 295,000 acres, being nearly 120 acres to 
every soul interested among them." But, August 31st, "the Menominees and 
Winnebagos told us they woidd not give or let one foot more land than they 
had offered. " 

Mr. McCall (■omi)lains that the "greatest ])art of the inhabitants of this 



60 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

place" were striving to prevent the Menonionees and the Winnebagoes "from 
agreeing to anything." As the New York Indians were Protestants, Roman 
Catholic influence at Green Bay was averse to giving them homes there. An- 
other obstacle in the way of securing land west of Lake Michigan, for the tribes 
that needed and desired it. was that Williams and the Ogden land company 
had been trying to get homes there for those who did not wish to leave New 
York. 

But those who had come to the AVisconsin region, — the Stockbridges (and 
Munsees), a large part of the Oneidas and the Brothertowns,--of whom we 
shall have some account, — were provided for by a treaty made in Washington. 
8th February, 1831. To this treaty only the Menomonees and United States 
government were parties. The latter secured a large cession of land,^ — 2,500- 
000 acres, — for white settlement; and 500,000 acres were assigned to the New 
York Indians. A supplementary article was added on the 17th of the same 
month, and the Senate made as a condition of ratification that three addi- 
tional townshij)s, on the east side of Lake Winnebago, — eacli of 23,040 acres, — 
be set apart; two for the Stockbridges and Munsees, one for the Brothertowns. 
Further conditions were these: That for their improvements at Statesburg- 
the Stockbridges, were to be paid a sum not to exceed twenty-five thousand 
dollars, while the Brothertowns were to receive for theirs (at Little Kaukauna) 
one thousand six hundred dollars. The tract of land assigned to the other 
New York Indians, — a part of the Oneidas, — was enlarged by adding two 
hundred thousand acres on the south-west side and diminished by an etpial 
amount to be "taken off from the north-eastern side of said tract." 

But it was necessary to get the consent of the Menomonees to the condi- 
tions made by the Senate. This was secured 1832, October 27th, by United 
States Commissioner George B. Porter. ^ All parties were satified save Elea- 
zar Williams and the Ogden land company. ^ Williams could no longer dream 

This tract was ceded to the United States." — A. G. Ellis. 

* "All the lands east of Fox river, Green Bay and Lake Winnebago, and from Fond du 
Lac southeasterly to the sources of the Milwaukee river, and do.wn the same to its mouth. 

^ South Kaukauna. 

^ Perhaps one reason whythe promises made tlie New York Indians bythe Menonionees in 
the treaty of 1822 were not fulfilled, and why subsequent treaties were so difficult of negoti- 
ation, was the utter loss of confidence in Williams. His failure to carry out promises that he 
made in regard to schools is specifically niBnti^jneds by Mr. Ellis, as one cause of the trouble. 
Yet that the majority of the M'_Miomonees, or any considerable inimber of them, cared much 
about schools is rendered doubtful by a further statement for which Mr. Ellis makes himself 
responsible: That the treaty of 18:^1 made "provision for an extensive; farming and educa- 
tional establishment " for the benefit of the Menonionees; and that tlie plan "proved abor- 
tive, the traders and Roman Catholics persuading tht; Indians to r.^^,ioct all its proposed bone- 
fits." See " Wisconsin Historical Collections," volume II., pagt^ 487. 

4 This it was that furnished Williams with part of the money needed in the prosecution 
of his scheme and theirs. It is not certain that eitlierof them oi'iginated it, though Williams 
claiuKMl that he did. However, the Ogden company had been in cwistence since 18l() in 
which year it bought from its predecessor, tiie -Holland lanil company, "the pre-emption 
right of purchase from the Indians to most of the land of western New York, having derived 
it from Massachusetts originally, subsequently confirni'il by the state of New York " (A. G. 
Ellis). The (ireen Bay region, as a place to which removal might h:^ made, was suggested, 
very possibly, by Dr. Morse, to whom John Sergeant, in a letter dated 1821, Deeember KJth. 
credits the (>ntire plan, as far as it related to tlu' Stockbridges. These people, however. 



DR. MORSE AND HIS ERRAND IN THE WEST. Gl 

of an Indian empire at Green Bay, with himself at its head, and the company 
conld no longer hope to get possession of land in New York by reniovino- the 
Iroquois to what is now Wisconsin. It continued operations, however, and at 
a later date attempted to secure the removal of the Iroquois then in New York 
to the region drained by the Little Osage river (southeastern Kansas). There a 
reservation was conditionally provided for by a "treaty" made 1838, January 
15th, at Buffalo Creek, New York. ^ By this " treaty " there was assio-ned to 
the United States whatever right or interest, — -if there ever was any, — that 
the New York Iroquois retained in the five hundred thousand acres of Wiscon- 
sin land above mentioned. Thus the title to said land was left in the Oneidas 
of AVisconsin, and these, by treaty made February 3rd of the same year, 
ceded to the United States all of this great possession save about sixty-two 
thousand acres. Thus was constituted the present Oneida reservation near 
Green Bay. Iroquois from New York had found homes near "that end of the 
world "2 to which, in the time of Radisson, their ancestors had driven the 
helpless Hui'ons whom Menard sought, and in seeking gave his life. 

claimedthat they had a century-old invitation from their "grandchildren," the Menomonees 
of Green Bay, thither to come and there to make their homes. 

1 A suit that grew out of this "treaty " is now (June, 1894) pending in the United States 
court of claims. It is brought in the name of the Iroquois with whom, it is alleged, the 
Stockbridges and Brothertowns, while in Now York, were duly incorporated. Though a few 
Indians from New York and still fewer from Wisconsin removed to the proposed reservation 
it was never really occupied according to the terms of the " treaty." As before, the Iroquoi.s 
of New York preferred to remain there, and the plans of the Ogden company were again de- 
feated. Hence the proposed Kansas reservation never ceased to be public land. It was 
opened to white settlement when the Territory of Kansas M'as organized. In the rush of the 
whites for land, and in the tierce conflict about slavery, whatever claims the Indians had 
were lost sight of utterly, and the few of them who were there removed to Indian Territory 
where they became incorporated with kindred tribes. The suit aforesaid is brought for tlie 
recovery of damages alleged to be due for the loss of this proposed reservation. Some of our 
Stockbridges are deeply interested in this action, and to the whole matter several of their 
numerous statesmen are giving close attention.— gentlemen who would much better be em- 
ployed in hoeing potatoes or in raising pigs and poultry. 

^ See page 8. 



CHAPTEI\ YIII. 



OXEIDAS AND THE BR()THEHT( )WNS. 

The Oneidas are an Iroquois tribe which, unlike the most of the others of 
that confederacy, was, with the Tusearoras, friendly to the colonists during the 
Revolution. This fact, in reasonable probability, was almost wholly owing- to 
missionary influence from New England, especially that of Rev. Samuel Kirk- 
land, a native of Lisbon (then Newent parish, Norwich), Connecticut, who in 
1761 entered the famous Lebanon school, whence he went to Princeton college 
from which in 1765 he received — though not present — the degree of bachelor 
of arts. The autumn before he had aided in establishing a school among the 
Mohawks; 1765. February 7th, after a twenty -three days' journey with two 
Indian attendants, he reached Kanadesaga, the principal town of the Senecas, 
and began missionary work among them. 

Of this an account was given, many years afterward, to Rev. Tliompson 
S. Harris, missionary of the American Board among the same people, by some 
aged chiefs. "These men state," wrote Mr. Harris in the "Missionary Her- 
ald" for March, 1829, "that the first attempt they ever recollect to teach their 
people the gospel of Christ was a fruitless effort by the Rev. Samuel Kirkland 
about sixty-five or seventy years ago. He remained with them at their village 
(now Geneva), nearly two years; had begun to excite some attention among 
the Indians, and had opened a school for the instruction of their children, when 
the person with whom Mr. Kirkland lived, of whose hospitality he had always 
faithfully shared, suddenly fell down dead. The superstition of the Indians 
was such, at that time, as to lead them to account for this man's sudden death 
on the supposition that it was a judgment of heaven for harboring some 
wicked person; and they soon after passed a resolution that he, — Mr. Kirkland, 
— be expelled the village. He was afterwards accepted })y the Oneidas." 

Another account, probably by Mr. Kirkland himself, states that though he 
came near being murdered among the Senecas that fact did not drive him from 
them. But he thought the Oneidas a "nobler race," and after his ordination at 
Lebanon, 1766, June 19th, he began labor-among that people. In this service 
he was the successor of Rev. Samson Oecom. of whom we shall hear more in 
connection with the history of the Brothertowns. 

On the day of Mr. Kirkland's ordination he received a commission from 



ONEIDAS AND THE BKOTHERTOWNS. (W 

the Connecticut •• Board of Correspondents " of an organization in Scotland 
entitled "the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge." But hefore he 
received aid from that source he was put to great straits as is shown by the fol- 
lowing extracts from a letter written in 17(57: 

•'From week to week I am obliged to go with the Indians to Oneida Lake 
to catch eels for my subsistence. 1 liave lodged and slept with them till I am 
as lousy as a dog. Flour and milk, with a few eels, have been my only living. 
My strength begins to fail. My poor people are almost starved to death. 
There is one family consisting of four jjcrsons whom I must support the best 
way I can, or they would certainly perish. Indeed I would myself be glad of 
an opjiortunity to fall on my knees for such a bone as I have often seen cast to 
the dogs. Without relief I shall soon perish. My constitution is almost 
broken, my spirits sunk, yet my heart still bleeds for these poor creatures. I 
had rather die than leave them alone in their present miserable condition." Mr. 
Kirkland's needs were })romptly supplied, and in .June, 1773, the Scotch so- 
ciety, in conjunction with the corporation of Harvard college, agreed to pay Mr. 
Kirkland's salary. The aid from Scotland was continued until 1797. 

Mr. Kirkland had more than his share of the fight against liipior. His 
courage almost cost him his life. His loyalty to the cause of the colonists lost 
him the support of his former friend, Sir William Johnson, governor of New 
York, who, as an Episcopalian and a loyalist, came to oppose M r. Kirkland both 
on religious and political grounds. During the war the village and the churches 
of the Oneidas were destroyed by the British. Mr. Kirkland served as chap- 
lain in the American army. But his great service in the cause was done 
among the Indians. After the Revolution he resumed his missionary labors. 
For a time two Frenchmen, one a Jesuit, gave him serious annoyance. Gov- 
ernor De Witt Clinton wrote the Indians a letter warning them against these 
schemers. Mr. Kirkland died in 1808, March 18th. In the same year the 
Northern Missionary society of New York ^ provided as his successor an inef- 
ficient man named William Jenkins who was supplanted by the notorious P^leazar 
AVilliams. Thus it will be seen that P]piscoi)al mission work among the Onei- 
das was a continuation of that of Mr. Kirkland, a Congregationalist, whose 
service began in July, 1766. His home was at (xa-no-a-lo-ha-le. now the village 
of Oneida Ca.stle. He was virtually the founder of Hamilton college, Clinton, 
New York. Rev. John Thornton Kirkland, president of Harvard from 1810 
until 1828 was his son. 

Williams was' a i-emarkable though most unworthy man. " In the Mo- 
hawk- he was a born orator." Thus he was perfectly understood by the Onei- 
das among whom he l)eguu to labor as catechist and lay-reader probably in 
1816 or the year following. He began his work by winning over to his own 
denomination those who had been trained in the mission begun by Occom and 



' See page 47. 

2 His native language. He was of the St. Regis tribe, wliicli, in race and origin, seems to 
b(! of tlie Mohawk "nation." 



64 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

continued by Kirkland and Jenkins. These he represented as intruders, re- 
calling the labors, among the Mohawks, of Rev. Henry Barclay (1735) and 
Rev. John Ogilvie (1756-62), missionaries of the church of England. We 
may anticipate a part of our narrative by remarking here that those whom Wil- 
liams thus influenced became known as the first Christian party. Next he ad- 
dressed himself to the pagans, and with such success that they soon became 
known as the second Christian party. Soon he began to promulgate those 
plans, to which reference has already been made, of a great Indian empire in 
the region of Green Bay. ''I could but admire," says the late A. G. Ellis, ^ 
the comprehension [comprehensiveness], grandeur, even, of his scheme. Not 
the Oneidas only, bat the whole Six Nations were to be included. The conn- 
try west of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, and perhaps further [farther], 
was to be mapped out, and a large area to be set off to each of the tribes — 
the St. Regis to occupy the mouth of Fox river and head of Green bay. A 
new form of government was to be adopted. The wisdom of the past was to 
be searched for a model ; it should not be a republic, but some plan of emi)ire, 
with one supreme head." 

Williams's modesty was not so excessive but that he indicated clearly 
enough the person whom he thought best fitted for this exalted position. In 
furtherance of his plans he went West in the summer of 1821, but turned 
back at Detroit on learning of Bowyer's treaty. This, however, as we liave 
learned, proved to be no obstacle at all to the settlement in the Fox river coun- 
try of such of the New York Indians as wished to remove thither. 

But Williams himself proved to be the most sei'ious obstacle to the carry- 
ing out of his own schemes. By a continued course of advice and falsehood 
he had lost the confidence of nearly all the Indians, and both parties, — first 
Christian and second Christian or pagan, — among the Oneidas united 1821, 
November 21st, in a remonstrance against him, addressed to Bishop J. H. Ho- 
bart of his church and asking for Williams's immediate removal as a religious 
teacher among them. So far from doing this. Dr. Hobart sustained Williams, 
who was thus left free for the furtlier development of his schemes. Tlie next 
year, 1822, he came to Green Bay accom2)aiiied by Oneida "delegates" and 
followed in 1823 by others of the same tribe. The first Oneida settlement in 
this region was at Little Kau-kau-lin (Little Kaukauna; post-office. Little Rap- 
ids). There they came to number about one hundred fifty, and thence they re- 
moved when, in 1825, there came on of their people from New York a number 
larger than in any former year. On Duck creek, and about eight miles from 
Fort Howard, they formed a settlement, the present village, as I suppose, of 

1 Mr. Ellis came to be associaterl with Williams in November, 1820. The schemes of em- 
pire (lid not attract Ellis, but in 1824 he came to Green Bay and for about three years was as- 
sistant ill the Episcopal mission of which Williims was nominally the head. Sec volumes 
II. and VIII. of the " Wisconsin Historical Collections." It should be said that the late Jadpre 
Morgan Lewis Martin of Green Bay thinks that Ellis is too S(!vere on Williams. On the other 
hand the latter has receivcnl crcnlit not due him. For example it is said that he translated 
the Episcopal prayer-l)ook into the Mohawk ton(?ue whereas his work thonHUi, though ffood, 
was one only of revision. 



i 



DNEIDAS AX1> THK lUlOTHKllTOWNS. (m 

IJneida. At this place and at Little Ivaii-kaa-lin ani;mg the Indians, at Fort 
Howard and elsewhere among the whites, Williams continned the exercise of 
his ecclesiastical functions, — a service wlfurh soon hecame as unacceptahle here 
as it had heen in New York. Of part of his homiletic material we have an 
account that takes us hack to New Kngland history of the seventeentli century, 
and to Williams's ancestry. Thus luns, in l)rief, the story: 

Rev. John Williamw, ordained pastor of Deertield, Massachusetts, in 1688, 
and known as the •' Redeemed Cai)tive " from a narrative of which he was suh- 
jeet and author, had a daughter Eunice, a child of seven years ^ when the fam- 
ily were taken captive hy F"rench and Indians, 1704, Fehruary 29th. She was 
brought up among the Indians and married one of them. Though she after- 
ward visited her kindred she adhered to the faith of the church of Rome in 
which she had been trained and returned to the Indian mode of life, lest she 
imperil her soul by staying among Protestants! Her family, according to a 
custom not uncommon among those of mixed blood, took the name of their 
white ancestor. About 1800 or later, her grandson Thomas, was pei'suaded to 
put| his two sons John and Kleazar in school at Longmeadow, Massachusetts. 
Somehow Eleazar became jjossessed of sermons of his Puritan ancestors of which, 
says Mr. Ellis, he ''had at least a l)arrel." A suspicious (piantity! Some of 
these, after luucdi tutoring by Ellis, Williams managed to preach at Green Bay. 
It is curious enough to think of the New England minister of the seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries thus preaching to Wisconsin's early residents through 
the false lips of an Indian descendant, — Williams was a man of extraordinary 
mendacity, — baptized by a Romanist and ordained, though not till 182(3 and 
then as a dea(ton, by an Episcopalian. •• He connected himself with our church 
from conviction, and appears warndy attached to her doctrines, her apostolic 
ministry and her worship," says the journal of tiie iliocase of New York for 
1818. But in 1827 the Domestic and Foreign Missionary society of the Pro- 
testant Episcopal church, having lost confidence in Williams, appointed as their 
missionary in the Green Bay region Rev. Richard Fish Cadle. His work, how- 
ever, was among the wliites and the Menomonees ratlier among tlie Oneidas, 
and these people did not get rid of their incubus Williams, weary as all, — 
even those who had heen his partisans. — had become of him, until 1832 when 
the "confidence and })atronage" of his church were tiually withdrawn from 
the crownle.ss-!rould-be emperor. 

Years later Williams attempted to i)ass himself olf as the son of Louis 
XVI. of Francie and Marie Antoinette. Incredible as it may seem he succeed- 
ed thereby in deluding a number of people who, so far I know, gave no other 
evidence of idiocy. Born at Caughnawaga (Sault St. Louis), Canada, alxnit 
1790, Williams died 1858, August 28th, at Hogansburg,^ New York.. 

All the early Oneida emigrants to Green Bay were of the first Christian 

' Eiiiiicj Williams's avr j at tin tim •, of h !r capture is variously given. I accept the state- 
ment i'l (t 'W^ ; S!i (1 loa's " History anil G Mi'-aUv^y of D.Huliiild." 

2 Kotli tliosi! places, however, arr* on the reservation helonsing to the St. Kctfis Indians 
and lyintfon the 8t. Lawre7ice partly in N(!W York and partly in Canada. 



66 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

(once Williams's) party. After a time, the second Christian party, which liad 
determinedly opposed removal from New York, divided, not only in regard to 
this proposition but, perhaps first, on church matters as well. About half of 
them came under the care of the Methodists, and this Orchard party, as it was 
called, "adopted the emigration policy and removed to Green Bay." 

In 1832, July 21st, there arrived among them a man of fervent spirit. Rev. 
John Clark, a member of the New York conference of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. On the 16th ^ of the following September he dedicated a combined 
church-and-school, — "an unpretentious structure built of logs."- In size it 
was twenty-four feet by thirty and it "was the first Methodist house of worship 
west of Lake Michigan, and north of a line extending west from a point fifty 
miles south of Chicago to the Pacific ocean." The occasion was one of happy 
Christian fellowship. For in the congregation, worshiping with their Metho- 
dist brethren, and with them receiving the sacrament of the Lord's supper, 
were some of the Stockbridges among whom the American Board had estab- 
lished a mission where is now South Kaukauna, five years before. 

On the day following the dedication, that is on Monday, 17th September, 
1832, a school was organized. Of this a woman of the Stockbridge tribe. Miss 
Electa W. Quinney, was made teacher. Previously she had taught among her 
own people. 

Mr. Clark was a true itinerant. That he might be free for the work of 
mission organization and superintendence, he put his Oneida flock in charge of 
one of their own number, Mr. Daniel Adams, who had been a preacher among 
them in New York. The mission thus begun is still continued, and that of the 
Episcopalians survived even Williams and also abides to this day. One estab- 
lished by Father Clark among the Menomonees at what is now Marinette did 
not prove to be permanent. Of his work among the Ojibways we shall yet 
have some account. 

Mr. Adams won a wife in the person of Miss Quinney, and in 1835. or 
thereabout, the twain found a new home among the Senecas of Indian Terri- 
tory. Among these people Mr. Adams continued his work as pastor and evan- 
gelist. Is he not Wisconsin's first missionary? 

Among our Oneidas there continued to be somewhat of strife. The build- 
ing in which the Methodists opened a second school was "razed to the ground," 
says Mr. Bennett, " by a mob composed of chiefs and others under the pastoral 
charge of the Protestant Episcopal missionary." Fortunately, however, minis- 
ters are not to be held responsible for the doings of all who may be. in a great- 
er or less degree, under their pastoral charge, and we may charitably suppose 
that the evident quarrel among the Oneidas arose from quite other causes than 

* The exercises may have begun on Saturday, tliel5th. 

" "History of Methodism in Wisconsin," by Rev. P. S. Bennett, A. M. Wliere did tliis 
building stand ? At Grand Kau-kaulin, Mr. Bennett seems to imply. lam sure it was not 
there; it may have been at Little Kaukauna. The Methodist church building at "Oneida 
West,"— the first, apparently, of that mission that was used exclusively as a hou.se of wor- 
ship, was dedicated, 1840, .Tannary 4tli. 



ONEIDAS AND THE BROTHERTOWNS. 67 

the ditt'erence in their religious training. 

Of both parties among them there came to the Duck creek reservation, — 
their new home in the Wisconsin region, — about eleven hundred. According 
to the census of 1890, the Oneidas of the Green Bay agency, "including home- 
less Indians," numbered 1716. They have not become citizens, and therein 
have been wisely conservative. During the late war, ninety-six of their num- 
ber enlisted in the Union army. 

As a tribe, the Oneidas seem to have been unusually generous. To them 
James B. Jenkins* gives the credit of "adopting" the Tuscaroras who came, 
he says, "from South Carolina in 1715" [1714]. In 1774, October 4th, at 
Oriskany Creek. New York, they made, by formal deed, a gift of land to cer- 
tain of their Indian brethren from New England and Long Island. These, ten 
years later, formed the Brothertown "nation." The chief settlement, — not 
made until years later, — in the new home of these united peoples was fourteen 
miles south of where is now the city of Utica, New York, and the land given 
comprised a tract ten miles square. Between givers and receivers the chief 
agents of communication were Samson Occom, the missionary, and David Fow- 
ler, a teacher. 

Occom was a Mohegan, born in 1723 at the place of that name on the 
western bank of the Thames in Connecticut. The settlement was founded by 
his father who " was known in his native tongue as Aukum (Aucum, Maueum, 
Mawcum) and subsequently Occom " (Occum). When the son was ten years 
old a missionary school was established in his native village. This school he 
])robably attended but it was soon given up as a failure. " Man seeth not as 
God seeth." " Ministers from the region round about came, and the result was 
the awakening of a few in the tribe to a sense of their heathen condition. 
Samson Occum, then sixteen years of age, was one of these, and for six months 
he was struggling out of darkness toward the light. When he was seventeen 
he found the light, which roused anew his thirst for learning, and kindled a 
pity for his poor jjeople." He was one of the converts in the "Great Awak- 
ening," as the great revival is called that under Jonathan Edwards and others 
swept over a great part of New England. In 1743, Occum came under the 
instruction of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, D. D., pastor of the Second (Congrega- 
tional) church of Lebanon, Connecticut. "It has been generally supposed," 
says Rev. William DeLoss Love, Jr.,'- of Hartford, Connecticut, "that Rev. 
Eleazar Wheelock dug this diamond from the earth and polished it. but it 
seems to have been already glittering before Wheelock met with it. It was 
Occum who sought out Wheelock " with whom he spent four years and whom, 
appai-ently, he inspired to establish a school to educate other Indians, and also 
to train whites to be missionaries and teachers among the native tribes. It was 



' Attorney for some of the Stockbridges and others before the United States coiu-t of 
claims in the suit mentioned on page (51. 

^ Son of the autlior of " Wisconsin in the War." The father was for many years pastor 
of the (iraiid Avoimc (tluvn Siiriiig street) Congregational rhiircli in Milwaukee. 



(>S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

opened for the latter service in 1748 and more fully established in 1754. Af- 
ter receiving in 1755, July 17th, a certain gift it was called Moore's (or Moor's) 
charity school. ^ 

"In Novenil)er, 1749, Occom began a w(n"k as schoolmaster, counselor, 
judge and preacher among the Montauk Indians in Long Island, which lasted 
twelve years and was greatly blessed. About 1751 he married Mary Fowler, 
of the Montauk tribe." Two brothers of his wife. David, born in 1735. and 
Jacob, probably younger, became closely associated with Occom as his work 
extended, as did also one Joseph Jolmson, who married Occom's daughter 
Tabitha. Proljably during the early years of his work on Long Island, Occom 
received, from the Windham association, of Connecticut, approbation to preach, 
and in 1759 he was ordained by the presbytery of Long Island. ^ In June, 
1761, Occom and David Fowler visited the Oneidas. Occom remained until 
autumn, Fowler returned in August taking with him to the Lebanon school 
thre6 Mohawk youths, one of whom was the celebrated Joseph Brant-* (Thay- 
endanegea). Fowler continued his own studies until (March, 1675) he was 
"approved" as an Indian teacher or, more strictly speaking, as a teacher for 
Indians. On the 29th of A})ril following he set out for the Oneida nation. 
There he opened a school at Canajoharie. But the famine of that year drove 
the Oneidas from their homes and Fowler back to New England. 

Preceding Fowler's coming as a teacher, Occom had cared, as best he could, 
for the Oneidas by spending among them a considerable part of the sunmiers 
of 1762, '63, '64, continuing the mission work that he had begun among them. 
This, as we have seen, was taken up in 1766 by Samuel Kirkland to whom 
David Fowler and Joseph Johnson became assistants. 

The names of Occom an<l Ja(!ob Fowler link the history of our Brother- 
towns to that of the beginnings of Dartmouth college. More's charity school 
needed money of course, and in company with Rev. Nathaniel Whitaker of 
Norwich, Connecticut, Occom was sent to i^ugland on what inconsiderate people 
sometimes call a "begging trip." Thither they sailed 1765, December 23rd. 
Occom was the first Indian to preach in Great Britain, and he aroused tliere a 
wonderful interest. "From February 16, 1766, to July 22, 1767, he preached 
more than three hundred times, and usually to crowded houses." He had even 
the honor of preaching Ixefore King George III. who gave £200 of the £12- 
000 raised in England and Scotland for the school which had educated such a 
prodigy. With its enlarged means tliere was j>lanned for the institution a great- 
er work. It was removed in 1770 to Hanover, New Hampshire, a })lace chosen 
despite the protests of both Occoni and Kirkland. For one year. 1774-5, 
Jacob Fowler was preceptor of the school, which had already been virtually 

1 The giver, liowever, wrote his name Josluia More. 

^ The (littereiice, then, between Goiiffreg-atioiutlists and Pr(!sbyteriaiis was hugely one of 
geography. Tlie same man vvonhl be a Congregational ist in New England, and a Presbyte- 
rian elsewhere. 

" Chietiy celebrated for two very unlike things: his supposed or real coiniection with the 
massacre at Wyoming, during the Revolution, and his translation into the Mohawk tongue of 
the Episcopal prayer-book ; the translation afterwards revised by Eleazar Williams. 



ONEIDAS AND THE BKOTHERTOWNS. 69 

absorbed into Dartmouth college. 

After Oecom's return from England he ''seems to have exercised a mis- 
sionary's care over seven different places : Montauk, Long Island; Mohegan, Ni- 
antic, Groton, Farmington, Stonington, Connecticut; and Charlestown, Rhode 
Island. He it was, probably, who formed the plan of gathering into one com- 
munity the Cliristianized tribes among which he was doing the work of an 
evangelist and pastor. But so active was David Fowler in carrying out the 
plan that his name, more than any other, seems to be held in remembrance by 
our Wisconsin Brothertowns. ^ It was he who stai'ted with Occoni, 1774, July 
8th, ''to view the land offered by the Oneidas and settle its boundaries. They 
took back with them the deed of gift, an instrument which seems to have been 
drawn up by Occom himself with the purpose of keeping the New England 
blood pure and preserving a tribal unity. Then came the revolutionary war 
which interfered with the plans made. During the war Occom, the Fowlers 
and Johnson were the Indian heroes of New England." They deserve to be 
remembered also as the founders of Brothertown, New York. "About twenty 
families started for the Oneida country on May 8th, 1784." Some families 
had gone thither earlier. In the autumn of the next year Occom visited them, 
and was present when, 1785, November 7th, they organized their government 
and named their town. 

The new ''nation" came to include remants of various New England and 
Long Island tribes: Narragansetts, Pequods, Montauks, Mohegans, Nanticokes 
(Nahanticks) and Farmingtons. 

Through most of these tribes the religious history of our state is linked with 
that of Connecticut and of the settlements about Massachusetts bay. Though 
in their dealings with the Indians, the New England colonists were sometimes 
neither wise nor just, their I'ecord in this respect is, on the whole, better than 
that made by our American people in later years. In missionary service there 
were abundant labors. Upon the first seal of Masaschusetts was a star (to sug- 
gest that of Bethlehem), the figure of an Indian, and the Macedonian cry 
"Come over and help us." The Indian and the star are upon the seal now in 
use. John Eliot preached the gospel even to Philip of Mount Hope. The 
Puritan ''Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians in North 
America," was the first of organized missionary societies.^ Thousands of In- 

' See " Wisconsin Historical Collections," volume IV., page 2!il. 

* It was iiioorporatetl in England, lf>4i», .July 27th, by the famous " long parliament." In 
connection with the act of incori)oration, it was " enacted that a general collection ho made 
for the purposes aforesaid, through all England and Wales; and that the ministers n^ad this 
act, and exhort the people to a cheerful contribution." This first-formed missionary hoard of 
Great Britain grew out of the labors of Eliot. Its charter was renewed when Charles II. 
came to the throne, in l»i(M). Under its patronage there was published the first entire Bible 
printed in America,— the translation made by Eliot into the language of the Indians among 
whom he laV)ored. 

For many years the eminent philo.sopher, Robert Boyle, served as president of this soci- 
ety (whicli must not be confounded with the existing " Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel ill Foreign Parts"). The older society " employed as its distributing agents and corre- 
spondents the commissioners of the United Colonies [first union; the one foriiKnl in 1(>4;?1, 
so long as that confederacy lasted. When that arrangement came to an end, amid tlie politi- 



70 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

dians received Christianity and a considerable degree of civilization. In entire 
tribes there was a larger percentage able to read than there is in Russia at the 
present day. Without the help of these Christian and other friendly Indians 
the whites would have found it difficult to maintain their position in New Eng- 
land. It may be that otherwise the colonies would have been blotted out. Tlie 
punishment of those who murdered a Christian Indian for making known King 
Philip's plans was the immediate occasion of the war called by the name of 
that chief, — a war that in part was one of heathenism upon Christianity. Yet, 
notwithstanding the strife and disturbance of that time and the years follow- 
ing, we find that in all, or nearly all, the tribes whose names are given above 
converts were made to the Christian faith. 

After the organization of the new "nation" at Brothertown. Occom spent 
his summers there. On -his journeys to and fro he preached and performed 
pastoral labors among the new settlements along the thoroughfare of emigra- 
tion. He was known as the missionary of the wilderness. On November 28th 
and 29th, the Stockbridges and Brothertowns conjointly and formally called 
Occom to be their minister, and he accepted their call. A creed or confession 
of unusual interest was drawn u]), which also declared their purpose in going 
into the wilderness. The church subsequently became Presbyterian, and Otv- 
com says it was the first ever organized among the Indians without the assis- 
tance of a white man." The Stockbridge church, however, had been organized 
before that tribe removed from Massachusetts. In 1789, the pastor-elect re- 
moved to New Yoi'k and made his home first at Bi'othertown and then for a 
few months at New Stockbridge where he died on the 14th of July, 1792. 

With a just enthusiasm Mr. Love calls Occum " the glory of the Indian 
nation." He has some renown as an author. The most famous temperance ser- 
mon of its time was one preached by him, 1772, September 2nd, at the hanging 
of Moses Paul, an Indian who, notwithstanding the authority of lawgiver and 
teaching of apostle suggested by his names, had committed murder. Perhaps 
no man is ever quite ready to be hange.l, but this serm3n, gooX as it is, has 
parts that must have made the unhappy wretch almost wish tiiat the execution 
had come first and the sermon afterward. " Your grave is dug," says the 
preacher addressing him, '' your coffin is ready." Yet something of this awful 
sternness is needed among "fools who make a mock at sin." A treatise by Oc- 
com on the Montauk language lay in manuscrijjt for the greater part of a cen- 
tury, but within a few years has been published by the Massachusetts historical 
society. Part of his diary, begun in 1743, is now in the library of Dartmouth 
college. He was one of the editors of a hymn-book of which three editions 
were called for. Two of the hymns therein are fr,)m his own pen, and one 
that he wrote later, " Waked by the Gospel's Joyful Sound," appears in many 
of our modern books under the disguise, "^Iwaked by Sinai'.s Awful Sound." 

cal disorders of IGHC, ' ("omniissiouers were especially appointed by tlie corporation, consist- 
ing of the principal gentlemen of the civil order, and of the clergy in New England,' with 
power to fill their own vacancies." 



ONEIDAS AND THE BH( )THERTO\VXS. 71 

He was one of the oria^iiial nieiiibers ot" the presbytery of Albany, constituted 
ill 1790. A century has passed since Samuel Kirkland delivered the sermon at 
burial of this Whitefteld of the Indian race, and at lentjth men are doing; a 
tardy justice to the name and work of Samson Occom. 

David Fowler died 1807, March 31st. His last years saw a lessening of 
the strife that embittered the <lying of Oci-om whom it drove from Brother- 
town. — strife in which a part of the newly formed "nation," — as is always the 
case among Indians, — took the jjart of interlopers who came among the Broth- 
ei'towns to get land. Perhaps the beginning of the trouble was the desire on 
the part of some of the Oneidas that the Brotliertowns yield to the common 
possession of both '"nations" the tract that had been assigued to the sole use 
and ownership of Occom and his fellow-emigrants. Their exclusive title was 
confirmed, however, by a " treaty," made 1788, September 22nd. By this, the 
original tract as.signed to the Brotliertowns was reduced to one three miles in 
length by two in breadth. 

But though white men could not own land in the Br )thertown settlement 
they could get ten-year leases which some of the tribe were foolish enough to 
make to them. Under these circumstances disputes arose as a matter of 
course. Finally the entire reservation was divided into two parts etpial in area. 
Choice of these was given to the Indians, and the whites on the selected area 
were compelled to remove. The other half was sold. Out of the sum thus 
realized, the whites were indemnified for their losses, and the remainder was 
deposited in the treasury of New York for the benefit of the Indians. Until 
1841 they drew only the interest but in that year, the principal, amounting to 
about $30,000 was paid to them. 

But even this somewhat heroic remedy of sepai'atioii and division did not 
prove effectual. The legislative act by which (1795, March 31st) it was ac- 
complished did indeed make it impossible for the individual members of the 
Brothertown "nation" alienate their lands. Bat in the ways in which a strong- 
er and shrewder race can take advantage of one inferior in these respects, the 
whites got the better of the Indians until the latter were ready to try the 
universal American panacea for social and financial troubles. So the Brother- 
towns ''moved West." Hither in 1823 came the first, — a small party that 
settled at Little Kau-kau-lin. Of the Brotliertowns who were there in 1830, 
Commissioners Rr)ot and McCall say, under date of Septend)er 3()th: "These 
are farther advanced in civilization and the arts of domestic life than perhaps 
most of the Ijorderers on a distant frontier." The settlement, however, could not 
have l)een a large one inasmuch as the Senate proviso. ai)j)eu(led for the l)enefit 
of the Brotliertowns to the treaty of 1831, grants them only "one tlunisand 
and six hundred dollars for the improvements on the lands now in their. posses- 
.sion on tlie east side of Fox river." And as no mention is made of other 
lands or other improvements we may conclude tliat there were none. 

pjiiiigration to the new reservation began, probably, in that year (1831). 
There they and, northward of them, their neighbors, the Stockbridges, were 



72 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

again the pioneers of civilization in the wildei-ness. "The first steamboat that 
ever graced the crystal bosom of Lake Winnebago, was built in our [CalumetJ 
county by the Brothertown Indians under the superintendence of Peter Hotel- 
ing, who was a white man and the captain of said boat. Having no laws 
which they could enforce, for the protection of their lives and property, and 
having in all their ways, manner of living, appearance in dress, and [in] 
speech (not having spoken * * their own tongue for one hundred 

years), become perfectly assimilated to their white brethren, they concluded to 
petition Congress for citizenship. Their prayer was granted, and an act passed 
for their benefit on the third day of March, 1839. From that time they have 
lived under the laws of the state, have officers of their own in most cases, and 
have sent three of their own men as members of the legislature, to-wit: Wil- 
liam Fowler, Alonzo D. Dick, and W. H. Dick." Thus wrote Thomas Com- 
muck, a Brothei"town, 22nd August, 1855. He added: "Already has inter- 
marriage with the whites so changed the Brothertowns in complexion that three- 
quarters of them would be readily considered white where they were not 
known." 

"Fifty or more"^ of those having Brothertown blood in their veins en- 
listed in the Union army. " We have furnished ten teachers during the last 
thirty years." ^ 

One of the first Methodist Episcopal churches in Wisconsin was estab- 
lished at Deansburg, the name given first to what is now Brothertown. That 
was in 1839 and the pastor of that early day has been followed to the present 
time by successors of his noble brotherhood. ^ 

' Mr. E. M. Dick of Brothertown, Wisconsin. 

*. The data furnished by Mr. Love, from his fortlicoming biography of Occom, led to a re- 
casting of what I had written concerning tlie Brothertowns. Mr. Love's work possesses a do- 
finiteness that is wanting in wliat Commuck wrote on the history of his people. Incident- 
ally, we observe here that, notwithstanding Dr. Draper's suggestion (Collections, IV., 298) 
that Commuck may have been murdered, there is no good reason to think that such was the 
case. Of Occom's life there is a good sketch in Dr. E. F. Hatfield's " Poets of the Church." 

Some time since, a statement was made in the " Standard," a Baptist paper of Chicago, 
that the first church of that denomination, in Wisconsin, was one among the Brotliertowns at 
Little Kaukauna in 1828. But I find no evidence of the existence of such a church, and a 
note of inquiry, addressed to the writer of the article in the "Standard," brought,— owing, 
perhaps, to his illness,— no reply. 



CHAPTEr^ IX. 

THE MlH-HIvKA-NE-OK. 

Under the name of Stockbiidges we have had mention of a people who, 
in their own language, call themselves the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. i Accoixling to their 
legendary history of the tribe, " a great people came from the Northwest ; 
crossed over the salt waters,- and after long and weary pilgrimages (^planting 
many colonies on their track), took possession and built their tires upon the At- 
lantic coast, extending from the Delaware on the south to the Penobscot on the 
north. Tliey became, in process of time, divided into different tribes and inter- 
ests : all, however, speaking one common dialect. This great confederacy, com- 
prising Delawares, Munsees, Mohegans, Narragansetts, Pequots, Penobscota, 
and many others * * held its council once a yeai- to deliberate on 

the general welfare. * * 

" The tribe to which your speaker ^ belongs, and of which there were many 
bands, occupied and possessed the country from the sea-shore at Manhattan to 
Lake Champlain. Having found an ebb and flow of the tide, they said: 
' This is Muh-he-con-new, — like our waters, which are never still.' Fi'om this 
expression and by this name they were afterwards known, until their removal to 
Stockbridge in the year 1730. Housatonic River Indians, Mohegans, Manhat- 
tas, were all names of bands in different localities but bound together, as one 
family, by blood, marriage and descent. * * 

"Where are the twenty-five thousand in number, and the four thousand 
warriors, who constituted the power and population of the great Muh-he-con-new 
Nation in 1604 ? They have been victims to vice and disease which the white 
man imported. The small-pox, measles and ' strong waters ' have done the 
work of annihilation." 

In regard to the name and language of these people we have an authority 
that is both older and better than of Mr. Quinney. *' When 1 was but six 

* If I were to write this name as I heard it spoken by Henry Sprague and wife,— the for- 
mer a Munsee. tlie latter a jfraiul-daugliter of -lohn Metoxen,— I should change the spelling 
by using, in the last syllable, u with the sound as in (inn. For further remarks on this sub- 
ject, see appendix, and also the author's monograph, "Muh he-ka-ne-ok; a History of the Stock- 
bridge Nation." To that booklet this chaptc^r is, in part, purposely made supplementary. 

^ "At the place where tliis and the other country are nearly connected, " says the legend 
as given in Miss Electa Jones's history of Stockbridge, Massachu.setts. 

* The.se quotations are from a Fourth of July si)ee('li made at Reidsville, New York, in 
18.54, by John \V. Quinney (Waun-nau con), of Stockbridge, Wisconsin. 



74 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

years of age," wrote the younger Jonathan Edwards,^ afterward president of 
Union college, "my father removed with his family to Stockbridge [Massachu- 
setts], which at that time was inhabited by Indians almost solely ; as there were 
in the town but twelve families of whites, or Anglo-Americans; and perhaps 
one hundred and fifty families of Indians. The Indians being the nearest 
neighbors, I constantly associated with them-; their boys were my daily school- 
mates and play-fellows. Out of my father's house I seldom heai'd any lan- 
guage spoken, beside the Indian. By these means I acquired the knowledge 
of that language, and a great facility in speaking it. It became more familiar 
to me than my mother tongue." " Both at this time, and in after life," says 
his grandson and biographer, Rev. Tryon Edwards, D. D., " he was so familiar 
with the Indian language that he often dreamed in it." President P^dwards 
continues: "I knew the names of some things in Indian, which I did not know 
in English; even all my thoughts ran in Indian; and though the true pronunci- 
ation of the language is extremely difficult to all but themselves, they acknow- 
ledged that I had acquired it perfectly ; which, as they said, never had been 
acquired before by any Anglo-American. * * 

"When I was in my tenth year, my father sent me among the Six Na- 
tions, with a design that I should learn their language, and thus become quali- 
fied to be a missionary among them. But on account of the war with Finance, 
which then existed, I continued among them but about six months. Therefore 
the knowledge which I acquired of that language was but imperfect; and at 
this time 2 I retain so little of it, that I will not hazard any particular critical 
remarks on it. I may observe, however, that though the words of the two lan- 
guages are totally different, yet their structure is, in some respects, analogous, 
particularly in the use of prefixes and suffixes. 

" The language which is now the subject of observation is that of the 
Muhhekaneew or Stockbridge Indians. They, as well as the tribe at New 
London, are by the Anglo-Americans, called Mohegans, which is a corruption 
of Muhhekaneew, in the singular, or Muhhekaneok in the plural. This lan- 
guage is spoken by all the Indians throughout New England. Every tribe, as 
that of Stoc^kbridge, that of Farmington, that of New London ^ etc. has a dif- 
ferent dialect; but the language is radically the same. Mr. Eliot's translation 
of the Bible is in a particular dialect of this language. The dialet^t followed 
in these observations is that of Stockbridge. This language appears to be 
much more extensive than any other language in North America. Tlie Ian 

1 He was born 1745, May 2nth. The above quotations are made from his treatise "Ob- 
servations on tlie Language of the Miilihekanec^vv Indians," published at tlie request of the 
Connecticut Aca<lemy of Arts and Sciences. 

In the Appleton Cyclopedia (first edition) tlie remark is made that this treatise "led 
H,umboldt to say that if he [Edwards] had not been the greatest theologian, he would have 
been the greatest philologist of his age." 

'■^ The first edition of President Edwards's "Observations" etc. was probably issued in 
1788. In the same year it was reprinted in England in connection with the famous sermon 
delivered by Occom at the hanging of Moses Paul. 

■^ By this, Dr. Edwards doubtless meant the tribe whose chief .settlement was at Moliegan, 
Occom's birthplace. 



THE MrH-KE-KA-NE-OK. 75 

gnages of the Delawares in Pennsylvania, of the Penobscots hordering on.Nova 
Scotia [which then comprised what is now New Brunswick], of the Indians of 
St, Francis in Canada, of the Shawanese on the Ohio, and of the Chippewaus 
at the westward of Lake Hui'on, are all radi(^ally the same with the Mohegan. 
The same is said concerning the languages of the Ottawaus, Nanticooks*, Man- 
sees, Menomonees, Messitaugas, Saukies, Ottagaumies, Killistinoes, Nipegons, 
Winnebagoes • etc. That the languages of the several tribes in New England, 
of the Delawares and of Mr. Eliot's Bible, are radically the same with the Mo- 
hegan, I assert from my own knowledge.'" 

Dr. Pxlwards then gives authorities, — "Captain Yoghum of the Stock- 
bridge tribe, and Carver's Travels." — for his other statements, and prot^eeds 
with his dissertation on the Mohegan language. And notwithstanding his cau- 
tion, he remarks of '• the Mohauk, which is the language of the Six Nations," 
that it " is entirely different from that of the Mohegans. There is no more 
appearance of a derivation of one of these last mentioned languages from the 
other, than there is of a derivation of either of them from the P^nglish. One 
obvious diversity, and in which the Mohauk is })erhaps different from every 
other language, is that it is wholly destitute of labials ; whereas the Mohegan 
abounds with labials,'.' It is this fact, presumably, that enabled Eleazar Wil- 
liams to write his native language with the use of only eleven letters of the 
English alphabet.- 

Notwithstanding Mr. Quinney's implied statement, it was not from the 
Housatonic but from the Hudson, wherein, after their long legendaiy journey, 
the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok first saw on the Atlantic coast the ebbing and tlowin<i- of 
the tide, that they received their name '' River Indians." Yet when the atten- 
tion of the Anglo-Americans, — to use Dr. Edwards's happy term, — was first 
drawn to these people, their home was in the upper part of the valley of the 
Housatonic, and. therefore, in western Massachusetts. 

It is in early years of the eighteenth crentury that these people come into 
some prominence in the history of the Massacliusetts frontier. Some of them 
may have borne arms for tho colonists in '' Queen Anne's war," — the one 
known in European history as the "war of the Spanish succession." If not 
then, they probably took the side of the Anglo-Americans in the Indian or, 
more correctly, the inter-colonial war that was " resumed " in 1722 and ended 
in 1725, when a "treaty" was made, ending a war that had really lasted about 
forty years. Whatever was the service and whenever rendered, we find that in 
May, 1734, two Muh-he-ka-ne-ew chiefs. Konkapot and Umpachene, received 
at Springfield from Governor Jonatlian Belcher of Massachusetts commissions 
in the British colonial militia. Konkapot that of captain ; Umpachene, of lieu- 



' In tliis, as we have seen. Dr. Edwards wa.s in error. This of coiirsw may be an incorrect 
inference of his own or, for autfht I know, there may be a mis-statement in Carver's "TravoLs." 
It is not likely tliat Yotrliiun, " a principal Indian of the [Stockbridse] tribe,'" would know 
anythini? about the Winnebajjoes. 

- Wisconsin Historical Collections, volume VIII., pa^?c ;i50. 



76 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

tenant. Konkapot's home was at Wnahtukook (Stockbridge) ; Unipachene's at 
Skatekook (now Sheffield). These places the Indians had reserved for them- 
selves when, by deed dated 1724, April 25th (May 6th), i they made a sale of 
land to some white men to whom the right of purchase had been granted 1722 
June 30th (July 11th), by act of the general court (legislature) of Massachu- 
setts. These early settlers came into a wilderness unbroken save by a few 
clearings made — -" under the grant of the Livingston manor." 2 — by Dutchmen 
from New York, between which and INIassachusetts the boundary line was yet 
undetermined. 

Ebenezer Miller, a humble parishioner of Rev. Samuel Hopkins of West 
Springfield, learned that Konkapot and his people seemed ready to receive in- 
struction in Christianity. This fact he made known to his pastor who inter- 
ested in the matter Colonel John Stoddard of Northampton and the Rev. Dr. 
Stephen Williams ^ of Longmeadow. Desiring to establish a mission among 
the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, — the "River Indians," as they were commonly called, — 
Mr. Hopkins and his associates applied for aid to a *' Board of Indian Commis- 
sioners" in Boston.'* Aid was pi'omised. Now for the needed man. 

He was ready. A New Jersey boy, John Sergeant, born at Newark in 
1710, had the misfortune, as it seemed at the time, to cripple his left hand by 
a cut with a scythe. That he might earn a living in some other way than by 
manual labor, he was sent to Yale college. " He proceeded Bachelor of 
Arts, September 1729, and commenc'd Master 1732, before which he was 
elected Tutor of the College, in which he had his Education. In that Post he 
continu'd four Years, to the Satisfaction of those who repos'd in him that 
Trust, and to the Advantage of those who were under his Instruction. 

'' By this Time he was determin'd for the Work of the Ministry, and tho' 
he was well pleased with the Business he was now in, and stood as fair as any 
Man ichatecei\ for a Call & Settlement in any, even the best Parish, that might 
become vacant; yet he preferred a Mission to the Heathen: not from any 
Views he could have of Worldly Advantage from thence, but fiom a pious, 
generous and ardent Desire of being an Instrument in the Hand of God of 
Good to the Indians, who were sunk below the Dignity of human Nature, and 
even to the lowest Degree of Ignorance and Barbarity. 

"There was something very uncommon, and whicli seems to have been 
from above, in the Disposition and Inclination there was in him to this self- 
denying Service : For before there was any Prospect of his being imploy'd 
among the Natives, his tender Mind was so affected with the Tho'ts of their 
perishing State, that it had been his Practice, for a long Time, to make Daily 

' The use of the <Tregoriaii (new style) calendar was not legally established in England 
and her colonies until 1751. Then it was enacted that the day following the 2nd of Sep- 
tember, 17.'>2, should be ac-counted the 14th of tha^ month. 

* E. W. B. Canning. 

* Son of Rev. John Williams, the " Redeemed Captive." The son was taken prisoner with 
the others of his father's family. 

4 An organization to be identified, probably, with that mentioned on page (i'.t as existing 
in New England. 



THE MIH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 77 

ail article in his secret Addresses to God. that he woukl send him to the Hea- 
tlien^ and make him an Instrument in tiiniiny them from Darkness to Light, 
&c. God fjranted him that irhirh he requested : for which he returned his 
grateful Acknowledgments to hi?ft who heareth Prayer. And of these Tilings 
he inform'd Mr. Woodbridge, his Fellow-Labourer, at his first going to Housa- 
tunnuk; hut strictly injoin'd liim to keep them secret, wliich he accordingly 
did till since Mr. 8kk(tKANT"s Death." 

The above is from a book that was new one hundred tifty years ago: a 
biogiaphy of Sergeant and an account of his work among the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, 
by Samuel Hopkins, who thus became the historian as he had been a founder 
of the mission. The few copies of the book that are left. — possibly not more 
than six in number, — are among the choicest possessions of the libraries in 
which they are found. The man of whom it was written deserved the eulogy 
of his biographer and won the prize most to be desired by the noblest ambi- 
tion, — a place among those who have turned many to righteousness. 

When Konkapot and Umpachene came to Springfield to be invested by 
Governor Belcher with the insignia denoting the rank of each in British ser- 
vice, they were met also by Messrs. Hopkins and Williams who had been asked 
by the commissioners in Boston to try to get the consent of the chiefs to the 
establishment of the proposed mission. These, like men of good sense, referred 
the matter to their people, by whom under Konkapot's leadership, — despite the 
opposition of traders who had been accustomed to furnish liquor to the Indians, 
— the desired consent was given at a four days' meeting beginning 8th (19th) 
July. 1734. in what is now the town of Great Barrington. Massachusetts. 

The way for his coming being thus prepared. Sergeant, who was still en- 
gaged as tutor in Yale college, visited the people among whom he purposed 
soon to make his home. He was accompanied by one of the neighboring pas- 
tors, Rev. Nehemiah Bull of Westtield. On the day after their arrival, Sun- 
day, the 13th (24th) of October, 1734, they gathered a congregation in which 
were about twenty adults. Then or soon thereafter, Mr. Sergeant's interpre- 
ter. Ebenezer Poohpoonuc. desired to be baptized. After wliat seems to have 
been a very thorough examination. — inasmuch as the candidate was brought to 
declare that he would rather burn in the fire tlian deny the truth, — Mr. Bull 
bai)tized liini 18th (29th) October, at a meeting held in the wigwam of Lieu- 
tenant Umi)achene at Skatekook. From this confession of faith and baptism 
of an Indian convert, the old ciiurch of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, counts the 
number of its years. 

The mission was first establislied in what is now the town of Great Bar- 
rington. Here on tlie 21st October ( 1st November), was begun the erection of 
a building whicli was to serve for church and school. So rapidly was the work 
pushed forward that the school itself was opened on Tuesday, the 5th (16th) of 
November. Mr. Sergeant himself was tlie teacher. Tliink of the college 
tutor, who had been giving instrviction to such men as Joseph Bellamy, Aaron 
Burr, afterwards ])resident of the college of New Jersey (Princeton), and 



7S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

James Lockwood who was once offered the presidency of Yale, — think of him 
thus teaching Indian children the very I'udiments of book knowledge ! 

This work was soon interrupted by service in behalf of another people. 
From his own diary we have the story : 

"Monday, November the 25th [6 December, 1734]. I went to Albany, 
being desir'd by the Ministers of the Country, to inquire after the disposition 
of the Mohawks, and the rest of the Indians in friendship with the English, 
towards the Chi-istian Religion; carrying a letter from the Rev. Mr. Williams 
of Hatfield, to the Hon. Philip Livingston, Esq; to desire of him Information 
in that Matter. Mr. Livingston told me there was a Probability that tlie Pro- 
testant Religion might, if proper Means were us'd, be introduc'd among most of 
those Nations ; and he looked upon it [as] absolutely necessary in Order to pre- 
serve the Trade with them, and keep them in Friendship with the EjigUsh; for 
the French of Canada were very industrious to gain them over to their Inter- 
est ; and that they have Missionaries among them, who came as near to their ^ 
Government as they dare; that the Indians are drawn off more or less, every 
Year to Canada. Much the same Account other Gentlemen gave me. Mr. 
Barclay, an ingenious and religious young Gentleman, has been about a Year 
and a half among the Muhaivks, and is learning their language, and designs to 
get Episcopal Ordination, to be a,. Missionary among them, if the Society for 
Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts will supjjort him. * * 

''Upon my Return from Albany, (which was on Saturday November 30th) 
I found Mr. Titnothy Woodbrldge, a young Gentleman very well qualify'd for 
the Business, sent up here, to take Care of the School, and to instruct the In- 
dla?is in a Catechetical Way, when I should return to my Business at College." 

Soon began the contest that every faithful missionary to the Indians is 
obliged to carry on with those who sell them intoxicants. The Indians were 
exposed to the evil influences of certain Dutch traders from New York who 
were " very industrious to discourage the Indians from being Christians, think- 
ing it would lessen their Trade with them, or at least they should not be under 
so good Advantages to cheat and impose upon them. For they make vast 
Profit by selling them Rum, and making Bargains with them when they are 
drunk ; and Drunkenness is a vice the Indians are extremely addicted to. These 
Traders tell them, that the Religion we are about to teach them, is not a good 
one; that we design in the P^nd to serve ourselves by them, to make Slaves of 
them and their Children, and the like. They also took Occasion, from the law 
there is in this Province, against private Persons selling the Indians strong 
Drink, to prejudice them against the Government and People; as though we 
were not their Frleruls." 

With a little, — and very little, — ^ change how modern and familiar all this 
sounds ! Upon the ignorant Indians it profkiced at first much the same effect 
as like talk produces upon unthinking white men at the present day. In com- 
bating these influences, Mr. Sergeant did not at first propose total abstinence, 

* Ambiguous. Perliaps Mr. Livingston said " our government." 



THK MrH-Fii:-KA-NK-()K. 79 

— if he ever did, — but sliowed the Indians that the restrictions on the sale of 
liquor under Massachusetts law were designed for their benefit; "that the 
Traders doubtless were the Men that intended to make a Prey of them, and 
their Children. * * With what I said they seemed well satisfied; 

es})ecially Kunkapot ; for he saw thro' the design of the Traders. * * 

"Then I asked them if they would let two of their Children go and live 
with me at New-Haven the Rest of the Winter ; and they agreed that the Caj)- 
taln's only Son Nimgliawwat, and the Lieutenant's oldest Son Etowaukaum, 
(who by the Way is Grandson by his Mother to EtouHmkaum, Chief of the 
Jiiver-hulians, who was in England in Queen Ann's Reign) should be the 
Children. * * And the next Morning, Monday December the 9th 

[20th], we set out for New-Haven, leaving Mr. Woodbridye in the School." 

Evidently Mr. Sergeant was not one of the so-called " Christians " who 
act as if they think that people can be saved while they are held off at arm's 
length. Rewrites: ^^ December \^t\i [2bih.']. We gotto New-Haveti. I took 
the Boys into my own Chamber at College, and sent them to the free School. 
* * They lived very contentedly, were made much of by every Body; 

for indeed they were a couple of very likely B >ys, especially the Lieutenant's 
Son." 

In a letter to ''Adam Wi?ithrojj, Esq;" secretary of the Board of Com- 
missioners, Mr. Sei'geant shows the spirit that makes lovers, enthusiasts, mis- 
sionaries and martyrs : " 'Tis no small Satisfaction to me that your Honour, 
with the Rest of the Honourable and Reverend Commissioners, are pleased to 
entertain a good Opinion of me. I have had the Approbation of my Con- 
science in the Business I have undertaken, nor have I been at all discontented. 
Thro' the Blessing of G^d. the Design has hitherto succeeded full to my Ex- 
pectation, excepting that I have not had quite so many Auditors as I hop'd to 
have (there being generally about 80.) Thei'e has been about 25 Scholars in 
the School, besides some older ones who took some Pains to learn the Letters ; 
but I suppose their Patience will hardly hold out to learn to read well. They 
have always treated me with Respect & Kindness, in their Way. The Chil- 
dren in the School, I think, were fond of me, and they all seemed to put great 
Confidence in me, and what I believe you will think a sufficient Evidence of 
it, is, I have brought a Way with me too little Bays. * * The Lads 

had a great mind to come with me. * * They are two very likely 

Lads, and if I do not judge amiss, the Didian Children excell the generality 
of ours, in Pregnancy of Parts and good Humor. I am sure I could not have 
found an English School, any where, that would have jjleas'd me so much. 
Capt. Kunkajjot is an excellent Man, and I do believe has the true Spirit of 
Christianity in him. * # j found them genei'ally possest with the 

belief of One supreme Being, the Maker and Governor of all Things, and 
that they acknowledged the Difference between Moral Good and Evil; that God 
regards the Actions of Mankind, in order to reward or punish them, in some 
future State of Existence." 



so IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

•'It is a Custom among the Indians," says Mr. Hopkins, ''not to proceed 
in any Att'air of Importance, till they have the Consent of the several Clans 
belonging to their Nation: and the Indians nt Honsatioitntk. having pro' 
ceeded so far without the general Consent of their Brethren, were niuch con- 
cern'd lest they should be frowned upon at the approaching Meeting; and the 
more so. because they had heard, that the Indians of Hudson's River highly 
resented their receiving a Minister and School-Master, before they had gain'd 
the Approbation of the Rest of their Tribe : yea, tlieie was a report that a De- 
sign was on Foot to poison the Captain and Lieutenttnt, on tliat Account; as 
also, because they had received Commissions from his Excellency Governor 
Belcher. Whether there was any just (ground for these Reports, or whether 
they were set on Foot by the Dutch Traders to discourage the Indians, at 
Housatunnuk, I am not able to say. But however that was, the Indians 
were so affected with these flying Stories, that they sent desiring some of the 
Ministers of the County would come to them, and be present at their general 
Meeting. 

Accordingly, January 15th 1734,5,' the Rev. Mr. Stephen Williams of 
Springfield, and I, accompany 'd by John Ashley, Esq; of Wesifield, went to 
Housatunnuk." They were successful, evidently, in winning the confidence of 
the Indians who, as Mr. Williams wrote, ''gave us Encouragement that they 
would as a Nation submit to Instruction." 

This following paragraph and tlie next are by Mr. Sergeant : '• It happen'd 
as soon as this Meeting^ was over, that several of our India /is were taken sick ; 
and two Men seiz'd with a violent Fever, dietl suddenly. This, with the Ap- 
prehension they had before of Mischief, design'd by some of the other Indians 
that came from the neighboring Government [New \'ork], 2)ut them into a 
great Fright; and made them suspect that those Persons were poison'd. Tho', 
I believe, the Suspicion was groundless. For it is so far from being strange to 
me, that some are sick after such a Frolick, that 1 rather wonder they don't 
half [of them] die. For their Dancing is a most laborious Exercise. They 
dance round a hot Fire, till they are almost ready to faint, and are wet with 
Sweat ; and then run out, and, striping themselves naked, expose their Bodies 
to the cold Air, and, if there be Snow upon the Ground, roll in it till they are 
cold, and then return to their dancing again, and when they are hot, and tired, 

1 Though the change from " old style " to " new style " was made in Scotland in the year 
1600, England did not adopt the (Ti-egorian calendar until 1752. With this change came the 
suhstitution of -January 1st for March 2r)th as the date of the beginning of the new year. 
For a time thereafter the custom was followed by many of writing the dates thus transferred 
from one year to that following with the number of each of the years as Mr. Williams does 
above. Tlie .January in which he made the visit that he is telling us about was reckoned, at 
the time, as part of 1 I'M ; when he published, it was considered as part of 1 7;<r>. His reckoning 
of days is probably old style, but he makes an error,— for which Williams who kept a journal 
of their proceedings is perhaps responsible,— in snying that " the Indiaiin, who were expected 
from JIadsoii's Hiver, came not till Saturday, which was the l!>th of the Month." It was the 
IHth or the 29th according as we u.se the Julian calendar or the (iregorian. 

^ Mr. Hopkin.s here inserts, in brackets, the words " Drinking and Frolicking always con- 
clude such Meetings." 



THE MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 81 

cool themselves in the same Manner, and, it may be, repeat this four or five 
Times in a Night ; concluding the Fx-olick with excessive drinking. And when 
they are drunk, often fall asleep in the open Air, perhaps buried in Snow. 

" This general Meeting happen'd in a very cold Season, and when there 
was a very deep Snow upon the Ground. And I never could learn that there 
was any certain symptom of poison. However, the Indians were persuaded 
they were poison'd, and concluded to apply to some invisible Power for the 
Discovery of the Murderers." 

It is evident that this invisible power was to their minds most immedi- 
ately represented by their "Priests or Pawwaws." At an effort to make the 
desii-ed " discoveiy ", — a performance given by some of these gentry, — Mr. 
Woodbridge w^as present, as were also some of the Indians to whom he was 
giving religious instruction. These being warned by their teacher not to take 
part in such heathenish performances, " resolved never to do so any more."^ 

"Mr. Sergeant goes on and observes, that the Indians used to have a high 
Opinion of these Pawwaws, (whose Character answers pretty well to the vulgar 
Notions of Wizards and Conjurers) and tell Stories of the great Feats w^hich 
they can do. However, they confess they have no Power over Christians. And 
concludes with these Words. ' There may be something, for ought I know, in 
what they say : But I am apt to think, they are very much im})osed upon by 
such kind of Pretenders, as the Rest of the ignorant Pai't of the World is.' " 

Let us remember that the witchcraft horror at Salem occurred but eight- 
een years before Sex-geant was born. 

Mr. Woodbridge's school was broken up in February by the going of the 
Indian children into the woods with their parents to make maple sugar. This 
leads Mr. Hopkins to suggest that the white people apply themselves to the 
same form of industry. He takes the trouble to tell how the sugar is made, 
and adds that it is " of a very agreeable Taste, and is esteemed the most whole- 
some of any. It might doubtless be made in great Plenty ; and, I can not but 
think, to the great Profit of the Undertakers." ^ We wish we had not taken 
the trouble to suggest how "excellent Rum,,'' as he supposes, could be made 
from the sap, but the fact that he did so suggests how difficult must have been 
the struggle which, as we shall see, our poor Indians soon began against their 
greatest enemy. 

Under date of May 6th (17th), 1735 Mr. Sergeant wrote: "Came Capt. 
Ktmkapot, Lieut. Uvipachenee, his brother Johtohkuhkoonaut, and Ehenezer 
[Poopoonuc], to New-Haven, to wait upon me up, and to carry the Boys back 
who had been with me all winter. Johtohkuhkoomvut had been a very vicious 
fellow, and a very bitter enemy to the Gospel', but a little before this he came 

> Is it not a most hurtful tiling that, even in our day, certain people, for the sake of what 
is to their vicious and vulgar taste an entertaining spectacle, encouriige the Indians in these 
and like displays that connect the poor creatures with the deniomism of the past and niake 
worthless dancers and jugglers the centers of attraction and interest? 

^ "To the Indiiins we owe maple sugar and tli« as kuta squash,- in English, vino-apple. "- 
Miss Jones's "History of Stockbridge." Doubtless, Mr. Hopkins's suggestion prove«l useful. 



82 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN 

strangely about, and was much in Favour of the Christian Religion ; undertook 

to learn to read, and made extraordinary Proficiency in it." 

''I entertained these men witli as much Respect, and Kindness, as I could ; 
showed them our Library, and the Rarities of the College; with which they 
seemed to be well pleased; and behaved themselves while they were there, well, 
and with much Decency." 

The little company set out from New Haven on the 8th (19th) "'and got 
to Housatinimik on the 10th, at Night." Mr. Sergeant's stay was limited by 
his duties at college to sixteen days during which time " he and Mr. Wood- 
bridge both kept School ; one at one Place, and the other at the other, each tak- 
ing his Turn a Week at a Place;" for "the Indians were parted again from the 
School-House; and lived some of them at Wnahtukook, and some at Skate- 
kook;'^ for at those Places they planted their Corn and Beans, which is all the 
Husbandry they carry on. For the rest of their Living they depend upon 
Hunting. '' 

Of this second visit to his jjeople. Mr. Sergeant wrote an account to one of 
the leading members of the "Board of Indian Commissioners," Rev. Benjamin 
Colman, D. D., of Boston. Of his admirable reply only parts can be given : 
" You are high in the Heai't of Governor Belcher, and all the [other] Commis- 
sioners. I have read your letter to him, but our publick Affairs will not allow 
us a Meeting presently. * * j have taken leave this Morning, to 

insert in a Letter to a Gentleman in London [Isaac Hollis], a Copy of your's 
to me. The Gentleman, three Years ago, press'd me to receive from his Hand 
a Security of Twenty Pounds Sterling, per Annum, for ever, for a fourth Mis- 
sionary to the Indians on our Borders. But as I could not see that the other 
three were likely to benefit the Papisted Indians. I refused him; giving my 
reasons. But I have now shown him an open and effectual Door at Housatu?i- 
nuk, and said all I can to fix him and his noble Charity on the Mission thither 
[there]. If the Gentleman (who will not yet let me name him) come into my 
Proposal, it will please me much, and make our Way easier. But, if this fail, 
I trust we shall be able to support the good Work of God, begun by you." 

In a letter written many years later (1743, August 22d — 31st), Dr. 
Colman tells of the answer that he received from Mr. Hollis : 

"It was about the Year 1731.2 that Mr. Isaac Hollis, (Nephew to 
Thomas Hollis, Esq; the great benefactor to Harvard College, and soon sifter 
his pious Uncle's Decease) sent me a Hundred Pounds Sterling, with his par- 
ticular Directions how to distribute and lay it out. * * 

"In the Year 1734, when he had seen a printed Account of tlie Ordina- 
tion of Messieurs Parker, Hinsdel and Secotnbe, and their Mi^ssion to the In- 
dian Tribes on the Easteryi and Western Borders of New-England ; Mr. Hol- 
lis then made me a most generous Offer oi' twenty Pounxls Sterling joer Annwtn, 

* It will be remembered that the first school house built under Mr. Seryreant's auspices 
stood at an intermediate place; in the town.— and perliaps on or near the site of the villase,— 
of Great Barriiigton which "anciently bore the name of Houssatonnock." 



THK MrH-HK-KA-NE-OK. s3 

for Eoer, for the Support of ». fourth Miaainnary. but in Faithfulness 1 advised 
against such a Disposition of his Money. * * 

'■' Within two Years after this, I lieard of a very promising Door opening 
for the Gospel among the I/idlan Tribe at Honsdtannuk ; * * Where- 
ujjon I inuujdiately let Mr. H )llis kiuvv, that now I could freely and earnestly 
advise him to fix his twenty Pounds Sterling per An. for the Support of this 
Mission : 

"In Answer to this Motion, November 19. 17.S(). I received from Mr. Mol- 
lis his Bill on Col. Wendell to pay 56 I Sterl. for the Education of twelve In- 
dian Boys aX If ousdfi/nnu/i, under the Care of the Rev. Mr. Seryennt;i\,m\ Aug. 
15. 1738, I hafl a second Order from him for 343 I. our Money; and again 
May 17. 1740, a third Order for 447 /. 9 .v.: (P^rrors excepted). 

Dr. Colinan's second letter anticipates a portion of our luirrative. Ac- 
cordingly we return to Mr. Hopkins's narrative: 

"''July, the 1st, 1735, Mr. Sebgeant (having dismissed his Class at Col- 
lege) left NfiU'-Haven, intending to spend the Rest of the Summer, and indeed 
of his Life, with the Indiuns at Hoasntunnuk, where he arrived on the 5th, 
and the next Sabbath preached to the IJnylish. there being no Interpreter pres- 
ent. And he, with Mr. JJ'oodbridye, went on to keep the Scrhool, as before ; 
one above, the other below, ^ changing Place every Week. 

" Lord's-Day. July 13th. Preach'd to the Indians, few in Number: — No 
Man present except Kunkaput, who was very much att'ected, weeping almost all 
the Time. The Men were gone into New- York Government, to reap for the 
Dutch People there." ^ 

'•The Indians' reaping for the Dutch does not turn to their Advantage, 
(tho' it might, if they had Prudence to save their Wages) but proves a Snare 
to them. For (as Mr. Sergeant observes in his Journal) when the Harvest is 
over, the Indians at Hudson\s-River drink up all their Wages. But he had 
the Pleasure to hear that Wnainpee, one of his Hearers, on this Occasion, over- 
came the Temptation, and told the Indians, at Hudson's River, plainly, tliat he 
design'tl to go to Heaven, and therefore must leave off such Wickedness. But 
some of them, to his great Grief, did not come off so well. Neither is it to be 
wondered at, that Men. who for a long Course of Years, have addicted them- 
selves to Excess, should be overcome, when such Temptations are laid before 
them by their Brethren, and urg'd on by others for the sake of Gain. 

••The Pains some of the Housatunnuk Indians have taken to cure them- 
selves of this ill Habit, has been very great. And some instances there have 
been of Persons among them, who, when strong Drink has been offered them, 
have refus'd to t(tste of it, giving this as a Reason, oiz. that if they once taste 
it, they are in the utmost Danger of exceeding the Bounds of Temperance." 

Was not this the first total abstinence movement in America 'f It does not 



' That is, above and below wliat is now called Moiiuniont mountain; or, in other words, at 
Wnatukook and Skatekook. 

^ Tlie foregoing paragrapli is evidently from Mr. Sergeant's diary. 



84 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

seem to have occurred to Dr. Hopkins to recommend to whites a course that 
he evidently regards as good for Indians. But we should not blame a man for 
not being in all things in advance of his age, and we must give the Doctor 
due credit for zeal in founding missions and interest in making maple sugar. 

In this matter of temperance the Indians soon took a farther step. About 
the 7th (18th) of December, 1735, "the Indians agreed to have no trading in 
Rum; which they remained by." In 1739, apparently the autumn or early 
winter, Mr. Sergeant and others interested in the good of the Indians proposed 
to them " to restrain those among themselves, who were wont to make Gain 
by bringing Rum into the Place." This proposal "the well disposed Indians 
freely came into ; and agreed upon a penalty of Forty Pounds York Money ^ to 
be laid upon those who should do it. Those also who kept Taverns in neigh- 
boring Places, and had sold Drink to such Indians as were given to Excess, 
they reproved, and endeavor 'd to dissuade them from a Practice which prov'd 
so hurtful to the Indians. But some evil-minded Persons among the English 
and Dutch, made a Handle of those Things to disgust the Indians; telling 
them that this was an unreasonable Enroachment upon their Liberties; that 
they were us'd worse than Slaves ; that they were treated as if they were Dogs, 
and the like." 

The Indians at Stockbridge were, it may be, strengthened in their own 
temperance resolutions by learning the effect that had been produced by some 
advice that they had given to their kinsmen, the Shawanoes. Let Mr. Ser- 
geant tell the story : 

'■'■May the 12. Came hither Jeremy Aunauivauneekhheck, lately return'd 
from the Showwanoos, who brought with him three Belts and a String of Wom^ 
pum, with the following Messages, viz. [those with the belts have no special 
interest] : 

" The String of Wompum brought an Answer to what our Indians sent 
to them some Time ago. 

^^ '■Brother, I thank you for your Word of Advice, you told me drinking 
was not good. I now leave it off, and you shall not find your Brother drunk 
again.' 

"The Messenger added, that they actually had made a Law against buy- 
ing any Rum of the Traders, and had broken some Cags in which they had 
brought it to them, and spilt the Rum." 

When Mr. Sergeant came to live among his people nothing was more nec- 
essary for their good than that they should be brought into one settlement. 
That this might be done, the "general court" (legislature) of Massachusetts, 

• "York money," says Professor Arthur Latham Perry of Williams college. " was issued 
at an avowed discount of twenty-five per cent." The people who want " cheap money " and 
a " flexible currency " might read to their advantage the following paragraph : 

" That charitable and generous gentleman, Mt. IIollls, had been at the E.xpence of about 
two Hundred and eight Pounds Sterling, in tlie Space of about four or five Years, for the ben- 
efit of the Indiana at Stockbridge, which was then upwards of one Thoitxand Pounds our 
Money." 

This statement Mr. Hopkins puts in liis narrative of the events of 1742. 



THE MUH-HE-KA-XE-OK. S") 

"early in 1736, granted the Indians a township which in April was laid out in 
an exact square, six miles in length and hreadth. This included the present 
townships of Stockbridge and West Stockbridge."^ It is worthy of especial 
mention that just titles held by white men- to a large portion of this land 
had to be purchased, and some white settlers had to be won to consent to their 
own removal thus to make place for Indians. If there is another instance like 
this in American history, save one of the same sort in behalf of some of Eliot's 
converts, it has not come to my knowledge. In dealing with her Indians, as in 
almost all other matters, Massachusetts has a most honorable record. 

Within the tract thus provided for the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok was the place 
where Konkapot lived, •' Wnahtukook, alias the Great-Meadow." This received 
the name of the English village of Stockbridge from some resemblance in the 
situation and appearance of the two places.^ To this new home of the united 
clans came Umpachene and the other Indians whose home had been at Skate- 
kook. Their lands there were given up in partial payment for the enlarged 
area at Wnatukook whereon it was designed to gather not only the Muh-he-ka- 
ne-ok but also as many of other tribes as might choose the way of civilization 
and Christianity, and wish to remove thither. 

"As to the Situation of the Place where Mr. SERfxEANX settled," Mr. Hop- 
kins gave his readers the following interesting information : " I observed before, 
that Hotisatunnuk is in the S. W. Corner of the Massachusetts Province, but- 
tino- upon Connecticut Colomj South, and upon New-York Government West. 
For tho' by Charter the Massachusetts Province extends West to the South 
Sea, and must therefore Butt upon the Gulf of California near the North Part 
of it, yet the Dutch being previously settled upon Hudson's River, cut this 
Province in two, and at present we inhabit no farther West than to the Dutch 
Settlements. Stockbridge lies at the North End of what goes by the Name of 
Housatunnuk. * * 

•'And as for the Condition of the Country round it; — South, upon Hon- 
satunnuk River, it has lately been pui-chased of the Indians, and is settled by 
Inhabitants of this Province. The name of the Town is Sheffield; it is divided 
into two Parishes, in each of which there is a Minister settled. East of Stock- 
bridge there is a Wilderness of about 40 Miles extent, which reaches to the 
English Settlements upon Connecticut River ; it is Mountainous, and loaded 
with immense Quantities of Timber, of almost all Sorts, "* West is a Wood of 
about 20 Miles extent, reaching to the Dutch Settlements in New-York Gov- 
ernment. And North lies that great and terrible Wilderness, of several Hun- 
dred Miles extent, which reaches to Canada." 

1 "Historical Sketch," by Rev. David Dudley Field, D. D., in the manual of the (Congre- 
>rational) cliurch of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. 

2 See (page 7G) account of grant and purchase. 

^ Or the name was given first ami tlia riisomblance discovered afterward. Stockbridge, 
England, is on the river Test and in Hampshire. 

4 In Stockbridge Bounds, and in the adjoining Wiklernoss, is found Plenty of that famous 
East India Root, Gin Sana. In Summer. IT.'il, it was first found.— Note by Mr. Hopkins. 



NC, L\ UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

"In the Beginning of May [1736], the [Muh-he-ka-ne-ok] Indians all set- 
tled in their new Town ; were greatly pleased with it. ' They gave very much 
into Husbandry, (says Mr. Sergeant) planted more this Year than ever they did 
' before, by three Times at least.' " Thus in a manner honorable to both white 
men and Indians was laid the foundation of Stockbridge. 

At Deerfield. in 1735, Governor Belcher had met the Indians and there, 
August 31st (old style), Mr. Sergeant had been set apart to be their pastor. 

" As an introduction to the Ordination, the Rev. Mr. William William,s of 
Hatfield made a speech to His Excellency the Governor, in which he took notice 
of G^d's inclining the hearts of some generous Persons in Great- Britain, by 
their charitable Donations, to seek the Salvation of the benighted Heathen ; 
and of its being submitted to the Direction of an honourable Corporation^ 
tJiere; and that by them a Number of Honourable and Reverend Commission- 
ers (of which His Excellency is at the Head) were here appointed for the same 
End ; and of their having found a suitable Person for the Instruction of the 
Indians, of which those at Housatunnuk were desirous: And humbly asked, if 
it were His Excellency's Pleasm^e, that the Pastors then conven'd should i)r(»- 
ceed to set him a-part for that Work. 

"To which His Excellency manifested his Approbation.' 

To do well the work of a bishop to which he was thus called and set apart, 
Mr. Sergeant applied himself to learning the language of his people. In this 
he made such progress that on the 18th (29th) of February, 1736, he used it 
in public prayer. He was then absent with his people who were on their an- 
nual sugar-making expedition. During or about April of this year "the hon- 
ourable Samuel Holden, Esq; of London, directed the Rev. Dr. Cohnan to 
bestow one Hundred Pounds of his Money for the benefit of the Indians at 
Stockbridge, which Mr. Skrueaistt, with Di-. Colnum's A})probation, thought best 
to expend for the benefit of the Females; seeing Mr. HoUiss Donation was 
confined to the Males." 

On the 7th (18th) of August, 1737, Mr. Sergeant for the first time, 
preached to the Indians in their own tongue. He had previously translated 
into that language Watts's catechism for children, and also a marriage service. 
To these he added, in time, nearly all of the New Testament and a great pai't 
of the Old. What proportion of these translations passed out of manuscrij)t 
into type, I do not know. It was probably small. 

He did not confine his pastoral labors to Stockbridge. On the 11th (22nd) 
of September, 1737, he preached to the Indians at Kaunaumeek. "I had i)re- 
pared a sermon in Indian for the Occasion. They heard me with great Atten- 
tion, and said they understood me." Here in 1743, the illustrious David 
Brainerd began his missionary labors, and in the following year, by his advice, 
the Indians of Kaunaumeek removed tr> Stockbridge, and he himself sought 
more distant fields of labor among the Delaware and other Indians of Penn- 

^ Probably either the same society that aided Eliot era successor to its funds and its work. 



THK MrH-Hi:-KA-Ni:-()K. 87 

sylvania and New Jersey. In tliis lie was ("arrying out a plan oriirinated very 
probably l)y Mr. Sergeant who, three years before (1741), "according to his 
Purpo.se, set out on his Journey, accompanied by some of his Indiana to the 
Sfuiw/i/wos, Mdtj the 2Gth. ' Jane .'3d he arrived at SdSqiuUuiniiah. Jiini' 
7th he preach'd to the Indians living on iJelmtutre-Hioer, as he returned from 
Sasquahannah." 

"I found," he wrote, "that they had strong and invincible Prejudices 
against Christianity, at least the Protestant Religion ; derived, it would seem, 
from the French, and confirmed by their owii Observation of the Behaviour of 
that vile Sort of Men the Traders, that go among them; for they said (which 
I believe is an unhappy and reproachful Truth) that they would lie, cheat, and 
debauch their Women, and even their Wives, if their Husbands were not at 
Home. They were further j)rejudiced against Christianity from the inhospit- 
able Treatment they liad sometimes met with from those who call themselves 
Christians. They said the Sbinieas (a tribe of Indians nmch under the Influ- 
ence of the French) gave them their Country where they now live; but chax'ged 
them withal never to receive Christianity from us. 

'•The French spread their influence far and wide, and indeed I believe 
(which I was not so much aware of before this Journey) that they have scat- 
ter'd their Poison ainong all the Indians of North-Amerifa, and have been the 
Means of stirring up that Jealou.sy and Suspicion ainong our Indians, which 
has made us so much Difficulty in dealing with them. * * 

"When I returned to [the] Delaware, I got the Indians inhabiting there, 
together, and preached to them in our Dialect, which they could understand 
without an Intei-preter. The whole Tribe is about 400 in Number; liut is much 
<lispersed, having no Accommodation of Land; but I have engaged some 
Gentlemen to endeavour to provide for them in that Respect; which, if it can 
be effected to their Satisfaction, there is hopeful Pros})ect of a successful Mis- 
.sion among them." 

But no plan of Mr. Sergeant's has had wider or better influence than that 
of the boarding-school that he founded, which in many respects anticipated the 
methods of the institutions at Hampton and Carlisle. •• I began to keej) the 12 
Indian Boys on Mr. Hollis's Foundation. I took them into my own House, 
and under my own Instruction." Thus he wrote 1737, Jamuiry 11th (22nd). 
Soon other labors compelled him to find homes in English families for as many 
of these boys as could be persuaded to leave Stockbridge. The others stayed 
at home, were clothed by Mr. Hollis's l)ounty, and atU^nded the school taught 
by Mr. Woodbridge. 

It was on the 4th (15th) of June, 1738. that Mr. Sergeant first celeTarated 
with his })eople the sacrament of the Lord's supper, niere were eleven In- 
dian communicants. On Thanksgiving day, 1739, November 29th (December 
10th), the little congregation worshiped for the first time in a meeting-house 

' "I found tho Placa about 220 Milt^s <listaiit from us, at)out r>0 from any KimVixli Inhabi- 
tants, and tlie Road to it exceeding <littif;ult." 



SS IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

built for them by the colonial government. ^ The site of this old bethel, — 
house of God, — is now marked by a memorial tower erected by the late emi- 
nent lawyer, David Dudley Field, whose father was for many years the pastor 
of the Stockbridge church. 

Soon the new meeting-house contained an interesting audience. On the 
20th (31st) of January, 1740, Mr. Sergeant "preached to a large Auditory, 
consisting of many Strangers, who were gathered together here with ii Design 
to promote, and confirm, a League of Neutrality among the several Tribes of 
Indians in North^America, in case there should be a War between England & 
France, which was then expected. This Tribe had, about two Months before, 
receiv'd a Message, which then came directly from the ScattekooJcs, which im- 
ported that the French and English Mohawks had already consented to stand 
Neuter. And this Tribe were now desired to come into the Projection. They 
therefore prepared three Belts of Wompum, with distinct Messages to each." 

The first of these messages is a reminder of former and continued friend- 
ship. The second is decidedly practical, and has a suggestion of " grim humor : 

-'■Brother at Wtanshekaunhtukko. By this we may know we are Breth- 
ren, because we have one Father in Heaven, the Lord of all. Let us have a 
temler Regard to our Families. The white People, with whom we respective- 
ly live in Alliance, are about to enter into a War. We only destroy ourselves 
by medling ivith their Wars. They are great and strong, and reach to the 
Clouds. 

'■'■Let us sit and look on when they engage. Dont let any of your People 
assist in their Wars. And while they fight, let us sit and smoke together. 

" Therefore three of your Brethren send you this Message, from the 
Highlands, Mohekan, and Skatekook.3 

Third belt : 

•' Brother at Naunauchoowak. ^ Though yon had begun a War with t/ie 
English, you would regard us, if we should desire you to leave off. You will 
without Doubt not intermeddle if we insist upon it. May be, the English 
think the Indians prevent their conquering their Enemies the French; theve^ 
fore let us sit and smoke togetJier, and see who will be Conquerers." 

"A very just and rational Scheme this," says Mr. Hopkins, "and, liad it 
succeeded, would have been much to the Advantage of the Indians, as well as 
to us. But there is little or no Prospect of such a Neutrality taking Place, so 
long as the French have such an Ascendent over many of them." 

Thus amid wars and rumors of wars, Mr. Sergeant pursued his work. 



^ In Puritan and correct usage the " meetiiifr-house " is the place where, in a special sense, 
God meets man,— not simply, as some ignorantly think, where men meet each otlier. Com- 
pare the expression " Tent of Meeting," as used in the Revised Version of the Old Testament. 

^ That is, three trihes, not three individual!?. The Indians carefully preserved the tradi- 
tions of tribal relationship. It will he rememhered that when tlie Muh-ho-kane-ok came to 
wliat is now Wisconsin that our Menomonees recognized them as " grandfathers." 

3 "The same I suppose which is generally in Xew Knylaml, call'd Noii-Uluewock," say's 
Mr. Sergeant. 



THE MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 89 

Upon petition of the Indians themselves, the {general court. May session, 
1739, ordered that the tribal land he divided to them in severalty. At the he- 
ginning of the Stockbridge settlement a few white families had been brought in 
to settle among the Indians to be, in a measure, models of industry and right 
living. The number of white families gradually increased after the Indians 
hafl power to sell their land, and thus most of the tribe were dispossessed of 
their former homes. The change was wrought in the generation that suc- 
ceeded the first settlei's, — those of 1736 and the next few years thereafter. 

But Mr. Sergeant did not live to see it. Indefatigable in labor he estab- 
lished the Indian boarding-school on broader foundations, planned for a like in- 
stitution for girls at Stockbridge and liad it in mind to go among the Mohawks 
to try to persuade them to send thither some of their children. In this design, 
he had reason to expect aid from Mr. Barclay who still continued his mission- 
ary labors among the Mohawks but was also chajjlain " in the King's Garrison 
at Alhanij, and oblige 'd to spend half his Time there, 40 Miles distant fi'om 
them." 

But these two friends were not to meet again on earth. Mr. Sergeant 
was taken from his people 1749, July 27th (August 7th), in the thirty-ninth 
year of his age. He was one of the men who make it easy to believe in God. 

The record of his work makes us wonder that he lived as long as he did. 
" He was obliged to compose four Sermons every Week, two for the English 
and two for the Indians: his Congregation consisting of both. Those he pre- 
pared for the Indians, he first wrote at large in English, and then translated 
into the Indian Tongue, as he did also a Portion of Scrijitui'e to be read to the 
Indians on the Sabbath ; and notwithstanding he had so many Sermons to 
make, they were well studied excellent Discourses. * * 

" He had a most laborious Task to perform every Lord's-Day. His Man- 
ner was to begin the Publick Exercise in the Morning, with a short pathetic 
Prayer for a Blessing on the Word, in both languages. Then he read a Por- 
tion of Scripture, with explanatory Notes and Observations, on such Passages 
as seemed most to need them, in both. All his publick Prayers and the Com- 
munion Service were in both Languages; and it was his steady Practice to 
preach four Sermons every Lord's-Day, two to the English and two to the In- 
dians ; except in the short Days and cold Season of the Winter lie preached 
but three, one to the English and two to the Indians. And besides all this, it 
was his constant Custom, in the Summer Season, to spend about an Hour with 
the Indians, after Divine Service was over in the Afternoon ; instructing, ex- 
horting, warning and cautioning of them in a free, familiar and })athetic INIan- 
ner in their own Tongue. The Indian Language['s] abounding in Gutturals 
renders the Pronunciation of it a most laborious Exercise to the Lungs; that, 
therefore, with his other Exercises, so exhausted Mr. Sekgeant's Spirits and 
Strength, that he was scarcely able to speak when they were over."^ 



^ The wonder is tliat the poor in.aii could speak at all. Here is tl»e lirst paragraph of his 



90 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Mr. Sergeant left three children, one of whom was the grandmother of 
the late President Hopkins of Williams college, an institution that bears the 
name and perpetuates the memory of Mrs. Sergeant's brother. One of the 
three, an unconscious babe bearing the father's name, was destined, in the 
providence of God, to continue his father's work among that father's people, and 
a John Sergeant of the third generation was to accompany them to new liomes 
within what is now Wisconsin. 

A pity it is that they ever had to leave the old one. There about the 
time of Mr. Sergeant's death they had come to number two hundred eighteen 
in fifty-three families. Mr. Sergeant had baptized one hundred eighty-two, of 
whom one twenty-nine were living. Forty-two were communicants. . One of 
the deacons of the church was an Indian, Peter Pau-quau-nau-peet. The vil- 
lage school (attended by both whites and Indians until 1760) had at this time 
an enrollment of lifty-iive. Living in peace and good-will with their Indian 
neighbors were twelve families of whites. 

The boarding-school, then under charge of a Captain Martin Kellogg, had 
made an interesting history. In 1743 (August 1st, old style) Mr. Sergeant 
stated his plan at some length to Dr. Colman of Boston, by whom public atten- 
tion was called to the matter and considerable interest aroused on both sides of 
the Atlantic. "Thomas Coram, gentleman," of London, who, as his "humble 
Petition [to the Prince of Wales] most humbly showeth, * * in 

the Reio-ns of King William, and Queen Anne transacted Affairs of Commerce 
in His Majesty's Plantations, in North America, where he resided many Years," 
became so much interested as to attempt to secure subscriptions for the work. 
Throuo-h Rev. Dr. Francis Ayscough, " Clerk of the Closet and first Chai)lain " 
to the father of King George III., Frederick, Prince of Wales, Cajjtain Coram 
was able to present his petition for aid in the undertaking to his royal highness. 
The response was a gift of twenty guineas. An equal sum was given by the 
Prince's brother, the Duke of Cumberland, victor at Culloden. Other titled 
persons also gave, and a man better than the wliole of them put together, good 
old Dr. Watts, the hymn-writer, sent, though perhaps not at this time, as a gift 
made by himself and friends, not less than £ 70. 

But Captain Coram received a rebuff from a "certaitt Gentleman and 

" Prayer before Sermon :" 

"Oe Taupaunnumeavik Pohtummauwaus, maukhkenun.quauwauntnm, wonk, knoi Ke- 
yiih keshelitouwaumxjp wauweli ohquauekeh, wonk kaiiklilniniiouwauiituniinun mauweh 
ohquoiekeli. Keyuh kesheh keyaukoop kruppauntumnnxli noen nhokkaunauii. Koiioinp- 
tumnuh mauweh oquoiekeh. Quauwehtaunuh ncen lulolmaiin oinenauiiquokb, vvaunchk 
pshooq ktolichoowaiuituni, kshekeimmmun ne mautclik." 

The " Morning Prayer,"— perhaps the one whose first use is mentioned on page 80,— pre- 
sents an appearance even more formidable. Here follow the first two sentences: 

" Oe Keuh maukhkenun Pohtummouwaus, Keuk kesheh touwuiuioop ne spumnnik wonk 
no Hkeek. Ktinneh wecnwmnnoohhannuh pnoywenaunuh nc spummuk woocheh ; Knttum- 
maukaunummenaunuh, nwauwehtaunaunuh ktaupeh aum eshtoli, kuttummaukaunumniuli- 
annuli, ktaupeh aum onimuchclioonnoohhannuh, ndinnahtannaunuh nhokkaunaun wau- 
clieh aum taupeh mummukhhuhwenouwuhheauk hannummeweh ne mtantowcnauk tan- 
neh, neek ndauhunaunk mumnnitsoow uh mautchk psluxxi uhwauntummauk neen ndoinoie- 
naunaun, maumutihkeh neen shekenummunneh kuhnuh kmaumuclieliannehhoonhannuh." 



THE MUH-HE-IvA-NE-OK. 91 

Lady" who in some way were j^reatly affronted at something the worthy cap- 
tain, with no thought of offense, had done or failed to do. And thus tlie ama- 
teur soliciting agency came to an end. Perhaps, however, it helped prepare 
the way for Occom's later and more successful mission. 

But the school, — regarding it as an outgrowth of the work supported by 
Mr. HoUis, 1 — was continued, and in 1748 a building still standing, was put up 
for it at Stockbridge. After the dispersion already mentioned, the recipients 
of his bounty were a second time brought together, and were put under the 
care of Captain Kellogg, of Newington, Connecticut. Teacher and pupils, at 
Mr. Sergeant's request, came to Stockbridge in April, 1749, and, it would seem 
from the narrative, remained there. 

After Mr. Sei'geant's death the position of missionary among the Muh-he- 
ka-ne-ok was offered to Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Great Barrington, nephew of 
the historian of the mission. Destined himself to be one of the world's great 
teachers of unselfishness, he declined the offered position, with its larger salary, 
in favor of his friend and instructor Jonathan Edwards, who was installed pas- 
tor at Stockbridge, 1751, August 8th (19th). To him the comparative retire- 
ment of the Indian mission gave opportunity for the production of some of his 
greatest works, among them the famous treatise on the " Freedom of the Will." 

A wonderful command this man must have had over himself thus to give 
his mind to metaphysical subtilities in the midst of the alarms of war. 
In the preceding struggle, commonly called ''King George's war," Mr. Ser- 
geant had written (1744, July 2nd, or 13th), " We are situated upon the Borders 
of the Massachusetts Province, open to the French Settlements, and in the 
Rjad where the French and Indians us'd to make their Irruptions. My House 
is garrison'd; a Number of Soldiers are sent into the Town." Nor was the 
danger soon over. We find entries like these among others in the diary of the 
younger Hopkins: "November 22 [1745]. Some time after midnight there 
came a man to my lodgings, and cried out with all earnestness, saying that 
Stockbridge was beset and taken by the Indians. But the report was false. 
This day the most of my people moved off into forts. * * Tuesday, 

August 26 (September 7th) 1746. The Indians killed five men and a girl at 
Deerfield yesterday. * * Sunday. September 28 (October 9th). 

Have been strongly urged to go into the woods with a scout of a hundred men. 
Stockbridge, Monday, September 29. Came here to-day from home with the 
design to go in the scout if Mr. Sergeant should advise to it, and with his ad- 
vice have concluded to set out with them. September 30. Set out in the aftei"- 
noon with a scout of one hundred white men and nineteen Indians." 

Though this narrative belongs to the time of Mr. Sergeant, yet it serves 
here a double office as sliowing the dangers, — described not less vividly by the 
same pen, — that, in the French and Indian war, surrounded Mr. Edwards. 
He was urged to seek a place of greater safety than Stockbridge. But as his 

' 111 1747 (January 27tli) Mr. Hollis agi'cod to support twelve more "Heathen boys;" a to 
tal of twenty four. All were to be of hciathon parentage. 



92 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

flock, not less than himself, were in danger, he refused to leave them pastorless. 

His people were steadfast friends of the colonists and the English. Al- 
most every man among them, capable of bearing arms, went with Governor 
Shirley in 1755 on his expedition against Niagara. They rendered most ef- 
ficient service. For the protection of the settlers of western Massachusetts, the 
little Indian settlement at Stockbridge was better than a fort. 

Another source of anxiety Mr. Edwards had, greater, probably, than that 
occasioned by the war. One of his parishioners, — Ephraim Williams, ^ we are 
sorry to say, — sought to secure the management of the Indian boarding-school 
and to make it, — and in this he was partly successful, — -the opportunity of 
pecuniary gain to himself and to what in modern parlance would be called a 
"ring." The school had been, in some measure, successful. Sergeant "being 
dead yet spoke" with the persuasiveness of his holy purpose, and some of the 
Mohawks moved by his invitations and those of his people, had removed to 
Stockbridge. Of these new-comers, there were in the winter of 1750-51, 
"about ninety." 

Apparently, however, Mr. Kellogg did not give satisfaction as master of 
what I am inclined to call the industrial rather than than the boarding-school. ^ 
Probably, also, Williams was then busy with his knavish schemes. This, liow- 
ever. is merely an inference from the following statement, condensed from an 
English edition of President Edwards's works :•■* 

On Tuesday, 13th (24th) August, 1751, the chiefs of the Mohawks came 
from their two principal settlements to Stockbridge, and met there the '"com- 
missioners of the province," — representatives, probably, of the board of In- 
dian commissionei's at Boston. The chiefs expressed a very strong desire that 
their children should be educated, but objected to removal to Stockbridge on tlie 
ground that the affairs of the Mohawks there were left in the utmost confu- 
sion, that no regular school was established, and no thorough means taken for 
the education of their children. Tlie commissioners agreed to get another man 
in place of Kellogg, and the chiefs agreed to send their children to the school. 
The council seems to have been in session for a full week, or even more. In 
reporting its proceedings to Hon. Thomas Hubbard, speaker of the Massachu- 
setts House of Representatives, Mr. Edwards spoke of the agreement to en- 
courage the education of the children of the Mohawks, — who evidently had a 
special interest (shared by the Oneidas and some of the Tuscaroras), in the 
advantages thus offered to all of the Six Nations, whose friendship, in the then 

* His was one of tlie first four white families tliat settled in Stockbridge. These, as al- 
ready stated, were to be models and exemplars to their Indian neig'hbors. Tliis Williams 
must not be confounded Avitli his son of the same name, the founder of Williams college. 

2 And should be more inclined to do so had not the word been almost spoiled by the silly 
sentimentalists who have succeeded in getting it applied to the state liomes for the correc- 
tion of young hoodlums who need, in about eqnai proportions, the bath-tub, the Westminster 
catechism, and the activity of a good hickory switch. 

3 The American edition that I have at hand,— that published in four volumes by Leavitt 
& Allen in 1843, seems to be expurgated as far as this matter is concern«Ml. Tliere seems to be 
no sufficient reason for its suppression now, and no one can bo harmed by knowing what it 
was that brought to naught much of the best planning and work of Sergeant and of Edwards. 



THE MUH-ITE-KA-NE-OK. 9:3 

existing ci-isis, it was most necessary to secure. Mr. Edwards mentioned the 
hostile movements of the French in the West, recited their " machinations to se- 
duce the Six Nations from the English interest," and pointed out the "religious 
and literary instruction " of the Indians as the only means of securing their at- 
tachment to the British cause, and detailed the measures necessary to he pur- 
sued at Stockhridge to promote these great objects. 

To do the enlarged and better work promised by the commissioners they 
employed as Kellogg's successor, a graduate of Yale college, Gideon Hawley, of 
the class of 1749. He came to Stockbridge, 1752, February 5th (16th). His 
work there seems for the most i)art to have been among '' Mohawks, Oneidas 
and Tuscaroras from Kanajohary and Onohoghwage." To the kindred of these 
jjeople, Iroquois in New York, he paid a visit in September, 1752. Apparently 
he determined to establish a mission among them. His leaving Stockbridge 
may have been occasioned by the mischievous conduct of Williams who "took 
on arrogant airs, renewed his <[uarrel with Mr. Woodbridge, went into the 
boarding-school * * and, usurping its direction, conducted himself 

in such a manner as to disgust the Oneida parents, who removed their children 
and returned to New York." 

Mr. Canning who tells us of these evil deeds and the natural consequence 
thereof, does not give the year of their occurence, nor that of the commission- 
ers' summons to Mr. Edwards to meet them in Boston, — an oppoi'tunity which 
he used to such good purpose that the schemes of Williams and his accomplices 
were subverted. Soon thereafter the chief miscliief-maker removed from 
Stockbridge. But the school had been hurt beyond remedy. The Oneidas re- 
fused to return, "the Mohawks lingered a little longer and then left also." 

These events seem to have led to the final breaking-up of the institution for 
which Mr. Sergeant so long labored and prayed. Again, — - perhaps on account 
of the war, — boys were sent from Stockbridge to be taught. Thus, writing to 
Mr. Edwards under date of 31st May, 1756, the famous theologian of Beth- 
lem, Connecticut, Joseph Bellamy, makes report concerning some Indian boys in 
liis own family. 

The troubles mentioned above continued, doubtless, through several years. 
Some of them, it may be, occurred in 1754 or even later. However, Mr. 
Hawley 's second departure for New York took place on "Tuesday, May 22nd, 
1753,^ when Mr. Woodln-idge, myself and company set out from Stockbridge 
for the Indian country. Our departure upon so great an errand as the plant- 
ing of Christianity in the wilderness about a hundred miles beyond any settle- 
ment of Christian people drew the attention of the whole town. And the Rev. 
Mr. Edwards, his wife and others accompanied us a considerable distance into 
the woods toward Kinderhook." The end of their journey seems to have been 
" Onohquaga " - on the Susquehanna (now Windsor, eastward from Binghamton). 

These men found among the Indians a wish for a prohibitory liquor-law. 

' It is interestiDg to notice that Mr. Hawley liei-e uses tlic^ lu'w-style mode of reckpniiif?. 
- Probably the " Onohogliwaire " iianied'above. 



94 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Mr. Woodbridge represents ^ Indians as desiring to say to the governor, "My 
brother, I would have you tell the great men at Albany, Skenectetee and Sko- 
hary not to bring us any more rum." 

Mr. Hawley's stay in New York eould not have been a long one. " I was 
ordained in the Old South meeting-house (Boston) 31st July, 1754." Immedi- 
ately thereafter he removed again to Stockbridge. 

Then may have occurred the conflict described above. Let that be as it 
may, Mr. Hawley, starting in April, 1755, and taking with him Mr. Edwards's 
son Jonathan, returned to " Oughquauga, ^ by way of Canajoharie. Owing to 
the distractions and dangers of war their stay there was but a short one, and 
Mr. Hawley became "chaplain in the army marching against Crown Point." ^ 

How great was the influence that in all these and other ways went from 
the mission established among the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, a people who were to aid 
in laying the foundations of civilization in Wisconsin, no one can measure.'' 
The Christianization of the Mohawks was, no doubt, effected in part, at Stock- 
bridge.^ Sergeant, Edwards and Hawley ojiened the way for Occom and Kirk- 
land. Thus of the churches existing among our own Oneidas at the present 
time the foundation was really laid in old Stockbridge. Not in vain did Ser- 
geant find a home and a grave among a once barbarous people, not in vain was 
Hawley driven into a more distant wilderness. Now we know why it was good 

^ In a letter to Governor Sir William Johnson, dated at Albany, 1753, .June 2(>th. "Sclu! 
nectady" and "Skoharie" are forms more familiar to us than those used by Mr. Woodbridga. 

^ Probably the " Onohoghwage " named above. 

^ In a " narrative " enclosed in a letter by Major General Charles Lee, dated 1758, Sep- 
tember Kith, we have reference to service by Iroquois,— among whom Sir William Johnson 
was then the great leader,— and Stockbridges in behalf of the British and the colonists: 

"On the 5th of July we embarked on Lake George with an army of Fifteen thousand men , 
consisting of 9 thousand Provincials, 5000 Regulars & 1000 Rangers, all in perfect liealth & 
spirits. 

"We here took one Prisoner, who informed us that the Enemy had near four thousand Reg- 
ulars at Tikenderoga, very few Canadians & no Indians. The same morning we moved on in 
Columns thro' the wood towards the Fort. 

"(July (>th) Our troops were numerous & in vast spirits, both men and officers the French 
by all appearances in the extrcamest confusion and panick. They without a single Indian, 
We with a most formidable body, for at this place we were joined by four hundred of the 
choicest warriors of the six nations (a greater number than ever we cou'd assemble together 
before) we had likewise one hundred choice Stockbridge Indians." 

4 " Snch was the intluence of this mission upon other tribes thfit the French Papists of 
Canada, while they sedulously shut out the light from their own countrymen were compelled 
to open schools for the Indians to prevent their secession to the English."— Miss Electa .Jones's 
biogi-aphical notice of Konkapot. 

No doubt. Miss Jones wrote from a somewhat prejudiced point of view. However, it is 
well known that the Roman Catholic church bestirs herself in the matter of popular educa- 
tion chiefly when it is evident that if she do not take some action of the sort the children of 
her homes will attend .schools which priests can not control. 

^ It will be remembered that missionaries from England had labored among the Mo- 
liawks, and that they were much under the influence of Sir William .Johnson. Hence it is 
not a matter of surprise that they espoused the cause of the British as against the coloinsts 
in the Revolution. Thus it was that they lost their possessions in New York. It is to tlie 
honor of Great Britain that she does not forget tliose who have done her service, and tlx; Mo- 
hawks were provided for in what is now Ontario. .Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) was tht^n 
their header. 

Th(i familiar name of these people is derived from the name " Mahaquas" given them by 
the Algonquians. Another name,— perhaps the oue in th nr own speech,— is Aguiegue, or 
Gagmeguc, derived, it may be, from a word that signittcs "she bear.' 



THE MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 95 

that, among men of his own race, Edwards h)st parisli and popularity and was 
jjut into the seclusion of a frontier liandet of Indians. There he did the work 
that has enrolled his name in the sliort list of the world's most profound think- 
ers, and won for him the presidency of one of America's greatest colleges. By 
a council that took action 1758, January 4tli, he was advised to accept the call 
to Princeton. On the Sunday before (January 1st) he had preached from the 
text "This year thou slialt die." The foreboding was literally fulfilled in his 
own person. Scarcely had he assumed the duties of the presidency when, 
Mai'ch 22nd, there came to him the end of life. 

His successor at Stockbridge, Stephen West, afterward doctor of divinity, 
— that title had meaning then, — was "introduced to the town " or, what is 
the same thing, to the parish, — the two were then, in Massachusetts, merely 
tlie civil and religious aspects of the same institution, — in November, 1758, 
and was ordained on the 13th of the following June. There were then, says 
Dr. Field, "about twenty log huts in Pittsfield [Massachusetts]; but with 
tliat exception the whole country northward was a wilderness to Canada. To 
the West there were some Dutclx settlements near the Hudson and on the Mo- 
hawk ; but westward, there were no English settlements quite onward to the 
Pacific ocean, and but few French settlements and those distant fl'oni each 
other. Wild men and wild beasts held dominion over almost the whole of this 
vast region." Stockbridge still continued to be part of the frontier. 

But there the wilderness did not master the colonist. ^ The emigrant 
thither found the Christian home, the church and the school. The persuasive- 
ness of the white man's money made peaceful conquest of Indians' land. Soon 
the Arabian story of the camel that got his nose into the tent, found in the case 
of the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok another application. The white population of Stock- 
bridge became more numerous than the Indian. The old church divided into 
two congregations, and John Sergeant, the younger, assumed the pastoral 
charge of his father's people. He could speak their language, — a thing Presi- 
dent Edwards and Dr. West never learned to do.^ 

At the beginning of the ministry of the younger Sergeant to the Stock- 
bridges, tliey were called upon to take up arms, for the fourth time, in support 
of the colonists. Of all causes that have combined to harm the Muh-he-ka-ne- 
ew "nation," it is probable that no other was so hurtful as the Revolutionary 
war. Bingham's "Columbian Orator" preserves a speech made by one of 
their chiefs to the Massachusetts legislature in offering to the colonists the ser- 
vices of his people. On the 30th of June of this same year (1775) letters 
and speeches from the Stockbridge Indians were laid before Congress and read. 
The committee on Indian affairs was directed to prepare "proper talks" to tlie 
different tribes of Indians. It was also resolved "that the securing and pre- 
.serving the friendship of the Indian nations appears to be a subject of the ut- 

' Expression adapted from Professor Turner's " Significance of the Frontier in American 
History." 

' The Eiifrlisli edition.— already referred to,— of Edwards's works states tliat Sergeant 
liad expressed the opinion that liis successor would better not attempt this task. 



9fi IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

most moment to the colonies." In the memorable year 1776, August 7th, 
Washington wrote to Timothy Edwards, then commissioner tor Indian affairs, 
on the subject of employing the Stockbridges in the service of the United 
States. Some of them "fought through all the war, threaded the wilderness 
with Arnold to Cafiada, aided in compelling the surrender of Burgoyne and 
made the Jersey campaigns with Washington." "The Stockbridges," says the 
British Lieutenant-Colonel John Graves Simcoe,J- writing of an affair in which 
more than thirty of them lost their lives, " about sixty in number, excellent 
marksmen, had just joined Mr. Washington's army." They were under com- 
mand of one of their number, Daniel (or Abraham) Ninham, who fell with his 
men. This skirmish or, rather, slaughter, took place 1778, August 31st, near 
White Plains, New York, where " Mr." Washington was then commanding. A 
large proportion of their most promising young men were killed in battle. - 
Perhaps the tribe has never recovered from losses of men, homes and charac- 
ter then suffered. We should remember this if we are inclined to think of its 
present condition almost with contempt. Nor should we forget that too often 
then, as in later years, drunkenness was made easy for them. At the close of 
the war, apparently after the warriors had returned home, a barbecue was pre- 
pared for them by command of Washington. AVhisky was furnished, we are 
sorry to add, even though their pastor presided at one of the tables. This 
suggestion of what camp and social life then was, prepares us for the sorrow- 
ful statement that many of those who survived the dangers of war fell victims 
to the habits of idleness and intemperance. In these ways many got into debt 
to their white neighbors and lost their lands. 

So the tribe sought a new home. They removed to a tract of land in 
New York,'' part of which is now in Madison county and part in Oneida. 
Hither they came at the invitation of the Oneidas, whom, it is said, they had 
once saved from a powerful enemy. This place, — a tract six miles square, — ■ 
was secured to them, perhaps, when, 1774, October 4th, the Oneidas gave land 
to those who afterward took the name of Brothertowns. More likely, however, 
the gift to the Stockbridges was made in 1 783. Be this as it may, the Muh-he- 

* Afterwards first governor of Upper Canada, now Ontario. 

' In the catalogue of the portrait gallery, belonging to our Wisconsin state historical so 
ciety, we tind the following: 

"98. Moshuebee. 

"Avery aged woman of the Stockbridge tribe who died about 1867, .supposed to have 
been one hundred and twenty-live years of age. She is said to have had three sons engaged 
in the Revolutionary war, one of whom lost his life in the service, and she was a camp-fol- 
lower of the patriot army." 

Unfortunately the catalogue does not tell who indulged the supposition concerning tlie 
woman's ago, nor who made the statement about her sons. 

• Some, who must ultimately have been absorbed into other tribes, had found, at an ear- 
lier time, another home. Mr. Sergeant (the father) tells the story in a letter to Thomas Coram ; 
a letter dated at Stockbridge, 1747, January 224 tFebruary 2nd); 

"Our Number increases from time to time by the Addition of new Families, especially of 
those who are kindly dispos'd to ('hristianity. It is probable, we should have had more of 
them before now, if there had not come some Moravian Preachers among some of them near 
to us. I do not pretend to so much Acquaintance with that Sort of People, as to pass any pos- 
itive Judgment about them; the converts they have made, are, I think, Enthusiastick & 



THK MUH-HR-KA-NE-OK. 97 

ka-iie-ok who did not remove to New York until after the Revohition. Then 
the little hand of ninety, with whom the elder Sergeant hegan his missionary 
labor, had increased to four hundred^ or four hundred twenty.- A very few 
remained at Stockbridge. the home once so carefully provided for them, but 
kept for less than half a century. 

Near where Kirkland had so long taught and preached, nearer the place 
where Hamilton college was to be built, and nearer yet to the settlement of the 
Brothertowns, the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok built New Stockbridge.-' Little enougli, 
we may fear, did they have to bring with them, and apparently there had been 
a division of sentiment as to whether they should go at all. The years 1783 
and 1788, mark, probably, tlie beginning and virtually the end of the emigra- 
tion. The greater portion of the tribe made the removal, we have reason to 
think, in 1785. For in that year, according to the good custom followed more 
than once in New England history, a church, — of sixteen members, — was or- 
ganized of those purposing to become settlers in the new town. 

Mr. Sergeant made what, after this lapse of time, seems to be the mistake 
of not going with the emigrants of 1785. The next year when he did go he 
found, it would seem, that Samson Oecom was ministering to his people, and 
had gained favor with many of them. Then followed, as we have seen, the 
organization of a church composed in part of Brothertowns, in part of Stock- 
bridges, — the one which in 1787, November 28th and 29th, called Mr. Occom 
to its pastorate.'* To this office he could not have given his full time until 
1789. The united parish had '* two places of worship, one in Brothertown at 
David Fowler's and the other in Stockbridge at Hendrick Aupaumut's or Cap- 
tain Hendrick, as he was usually calle'l. This relation continued to Occom's 
death, the Stockbridgers going to Fowler's and the Brothertowns to Hendrick's 
on alternate Sundays."-^ Meanwhile Mr. Sergeant " regularly spent six months 
yearly"*' with the people of New Stockbridge. Let us hope that he and Oc- 

Bigotted. They have rendered themsalves so much suspected in the Governments of New- 
Yofk and Connecticut, that they would not tolerate them within their Bounds. They refused 
to take the Oath of Allegiance to Kuif/ Georye, or e\en the Quakers ['] solemn Declaration. 
What was the meaning of this 1 can not tell. They drew off a number of Indians from these 
Parts, and some from this Place to Pennsylvania." 

" Enthusiastic," as then used, commonly bore the meaning of " visionary " or " fanatical." 
It is very likely that some of the Moravians of that time, excellent people as they were, did 
measurably possess that characteristic. Such was the case certainly with the earlier Quak- 
ers. 

"Mr. Sergeant was no Ji igot," fniya Mr. Hopkins, "but of a most i/('ne?-oiis & catholick 
Temper. lUyott/y was what he had a great Aversion to; and he was far from the rigged and 
narrow Spirit those are of, who confine Salvation to themselves, with those who think just as 
they do." 

* According to Mr. Canning. 

^ The number given by a local bistorian as of tliose who removed to New York. 

* The " New " has been dropped from the name, and it is now simply " Stockbridge." The 
little village is in Madi.son county. 

In the town wheri; tin; Muh-he-ka-ne-ok made their settlement there Wiis born, 183C, Oc- 
tober lOtli, to a Methodist clergyman, a son. William Dempster Hoard, lately governor of 
Wisconsin, and more honored in bis defeat in 1H".)() than two years Ixd'ore in his election. 
4 See page 70, where, unfortunately, the year of the "call," 17H7, is omitted. 

^ Kev. William De Loss Love, Jr. 

6 Dr. Field. 



98 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

com each made his work supplementary to that of the other. After Occom's 
death the church to which he had ministered passed out of existence, and the 
Stockbridge branch of it united with their brethren of the older church that was 
formed before the tribe left Massachusetts. 

During their stay in New York, the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok and the Brother- 
towns seem to have become regarded, through union with the Oneidas, as part 
of the "Six Nations." "In accordance with your views [I] estimate the Stock- 
bridges as a part of the Six Nations," says Commissioner T. H. Crawford in a 
report approved 1843, February 3rd, by John C. Spencer, secretary of war. 
Iroquois and Stockbi-idge delegates together visited President Washington in 
1792, that, in the words, probably, of his message of invitation, "measures 
might be concerted to impart such of the blessings of civilization as might suit 
their condition." 

As was the case years later in nascent Wisconsin, so when central New 
York was receiving its first strong current of emigration, the mission among the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok was a fountain whence flowed the water of life to surrounding 
communities. One narrative of many that might doubtless be given is found 
in the history of the (Congregational for seventy years, now Presbyterian) 
church of Clinton, New York, the spiritual home in successive years of so many 
hundreds of the students of Hamilton college. 

Here we may stop to note the fact that this region " was originally granted 
by the mother country to the colonies of New England. The conflicting claims 
of New York and Massachusetts to this territory were settled by tlie gi-ant of 
pre-emption right, on the part of New York, to the state of Massachusetts. 
This pre-emption right was purchased of Massachusetts by New England men, 
Messrs. Phelps and Gorham ; ^ and by them the Indian title to a large portion 
of the soil was extinguished; so that it was at an early day advertised and 
offered for sale in New England. * * Hence most of the early set- 

tlers of this region were New Englanders, and brought with them their New 
England preferences." ^ Thus it came naturally to pass that before there was 
time to i)ut even a roof on the home in which they met, the first settlers of 
Clinton gathered for the public worship of God.^ Such men as these are the 
ones who found communities that are worth living in. 

" Only occasionally was Clinton, during 1787-88, visited by a clergyman. 
Samuel Kirkland was at Oneida. John Sergeant was with the Stockbridge In- 
dians over the West Hills. Now and then these brethren came to Clinton and 
preached to the people. Sometimes, too, they had the privilege of hearing 
that famous Indian preacher. Rev. Samson Occom. whase gifts and eloquence 
were not inferior to [those of] any of his white brethren." When the church 
of Clinton was organized (August, 1791) the younger President Edwards pre- 
sided at the service, and John Sergeant and Samuel Kirkland were members of 



» This was the origin of the Holland, later the Ogden, land company. See note 4, page 60. 

'' "Congregational Quarterly," volume I., page 152. 

3 1787, April Htli. One year, lacking a day, before the settlement of Marietta. 



THK Ml'H-HE-KA-NE-OK. \)U 

the council that, on the 18th of September, 1793, helj)e(l to install its first pastor. 

We come now in our narrative to the ''journal of John Sergeant, the mis- 
sionary to the Stockbridife Indians, living in the vicrinity of Oneida, from the 
society for Propagating Christian Knowledge in S(!otland, from the 22nd of 
November. 179.3, to " And the place was left blank forever. Had he been 
endowed with ju'ophetic vision he might have written "1824, September 7th." ^ 
For then this labor and his life ended together. 

The society from which Mr. Sergeant derived the sujjport that the Indians 
were unable to give is still extant, and has its headc^uarters in P^dinburgh. A 
letter of interest and inquiry from its president, George Drummond, Pvsq., was 
answered by the elder Sergeant 1741, April -29^1 (May 10th), and on the 23rd 
of the following June (July 4th) he made repoi-t to Mr. Drummond in regard 
to his visit to the Delawares and " Showanoos."-- Two years later Dr. Colman 
sought to secure a portion of the society's beneficence for the industrial school at 
" Housatunnuk." '^ To neither school nor mission came anything from that source 
during Mr. Sergeant's life-time.'* But said society was the chief support of 
Mr. J^dwards during his residence at Stockbridge. It continued to aid the 
Stockbridge church in supporting Dr. West until its help was needed in provid- 
ing a stipend for the younger Sergeant. This was withheld during the Revo- 
lutionary war, but, at the close thereof, arrearages thus incurred were paid, ac- 
cording to the honorable customs of our British brethren. This society con- 
tinued to give some aid to the Stockbridge mission until the withdrawal there- 
from of Rev. Cutting Marsh in 1848. 

Again we turn to Mr. Sergeant's diary, and reproduce some of the more 
significant portions : ^ 

''November 22nd, 1793. — This day set out to visit my people at New 
Stockbiiidge." Perhaps he uses the term "visit" because his home was still at 
Stockbridge, Massachusetts, whence he did not remove to the field of his pas- 
toral lalM)r until 1796. 

"24th, Lord's Day. — Intended to preach this day at Guy Park (so called), 
where I arrived last evening, but being sick put up at an inn. 

"25th. — Continued my journey; the roads very bad. 

" 28th. — Arrived at New Stockbridge. 

' Yet it is probable tliat liad lie filled the blank it would have been with the last date in 
this particular portion of liis journal,— 17!>4, February 9tii. 

^ See page K7. 

* He tells of this in his letter of 22nd (3l8t) August, 1743. 

4ThiH seems to l>« a safe inference from the following,' remark by Mr. Hopkins: " Ifind no 
Return he [Mr. Sergeant] ever had from Mr. Drinmao/ul, or any other Member of that Soci- 
ety, nor any furUier Correspondence with it ; except a letter Mr. Serokant wrote to the Pres- 
itletit, for the Time, of that SiK-iefy of May the IHth 174J>, desiring, if it fell within their 
spliere, that they would assist in promoting the Bimrduiu-School, then b(!gun at Stockbrklye. 
Wheth(!r Mr. Sergeant's Letter fail'd by the way, or what else happened to prevent a friendly 
Correspondence, 1 am not able to say." 

■' Certain contractions used by Mr. Sergeant might i)erplex many reatlers. Accordingly 
for the purposes of our narrative it seemed best to treat his manuscript as he liimself would 
have wished to do had lie iieen preparing it for the press. A transcript of the original can be 
found in the library of the state historical society. 



100 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

" December 1st, Lord's Day. — Preached from Acts III. 19. From these 
words endeavored to show the nature of repentance and conversion. 

"2nd. — This day went to Oneida to visit Mr. Caulking who, I understood, 
was about to leave the place and business because he had no school house pro- 
vided for him. I visited some of the chiefs, exhorted them to make provision 
for the school. They encouraged me they would attend to it. 

" 5th. — This day my people agreed to set apart as a day of public thanks- 
giving. Accordingly we met at 12 o'clock at the church where I exhorted them 
to the duties of the day by i-epeating to my hearers the many reasons they had 
for devoting this day to praise and thankfulness. Mentioned among other 
things that God had not forsaken them, but continued the gospel among them. 
That it was owing to the goodness of God that they had advanced in religion 
and a civilized life far beyond their ancestors, &c. 

" After the assembly was dismissed I was invited to dine with a part of 
the tribe who were collected at one house, wliere a table was spread sufficient 
to accommodate about thirty or forty persons. We were served with puddings, 
boiled meats and a variety of pies. Our drink was good, wholesome spring 
water. After dinner our chief in a long address to the company, among other 
things, s<aid : ' My friends, we have reason to be thankful that we have, through 
the goodness of God, been carried through all the trials that we have experi- 
enced the year past, that we are brought to see this happy day, that we have 
now been allowed to sit together in love and peace, and partake of the bounties 
of heaven ; that in eating food we might have obtained [it] from white people, 
our neighbors, which was our state of dependence in the country where we 
came from, but we have now been fed by such things as we have obtained by 
the labor of our own hands; this is matter of thankfulness.' 

" The provisions that were left were given to the old and poor who went 
away rejoicing. 

"8th, Lord's Day, a.m. — Concluded my subject from Acts III. 19. [In 
the afternoon] after I had dismissed my people [I] delivered a short discourse 
to the Tuscaroras and Oneidas present. ^ 

" 14th. ^ — This morning sent for to visit one of the strangers wlio lately 
came from the westward ^ with Cant Nendrol,^ found her very sick, — let a lit- 
tle blood, since have heard she is a little recovered. 



> Mr. Sergeant's constant spelling is " Oniedas and Tuskaroras." 

2. I tliink it very likely that these "strangers from the westward" were Munsees. Tliis 
little tribe is a branch of the Delawares (Leni-Leiinappes). The Munsees seem to have bo< n 
scattered in consequence of having taken sides against the colonists in the American Revo- 
lution. From homes in New York, Canada and perhaps Indiana and elsewhere, some came in 
later years to Wisconsin, where they have united with the Stock bridges. 

From Brown's "History of Missions " we have the following most uncomplimentary ref- 
erence to the Munsees : 

"While several of the Indian tribes joined either with the English or the Americans, and 
committed the most shocking outrages on their enemies, the chiefs of the D.lawani nation, 
determined to maintain a strict neutrality. Tlie Monsys, indeed, one of the Delaware tribes 
secretly resolved to separate from the body of the nation, and to join the Mingoes, a gang of 
thieves and murderers." , -^^ 

» The best reading that 1 can make of a very poorly written name. 



THE MITH-HE-KA-XE-OK. 101 

"17th. — Tais diy visited another of the strangers who came from the 
westward, a wid jw with four cliildi-en. I asked her m iny questions upon the 
subject of religion ; told me she had never heard preaching in her life, hut 
would attend the next Lord's Day. 

'-Tliis day also several of our young men returned from hunting." 

Bat probably at no time during their life in New York were the Stock- 
bridges dependent upon hunting for their means of living. It must have been 
soon after their removal thither that they divided the tribal land so that each 
family had its particular possession but, probably, without the right of dispos- 
ing of it to any one outside of the tribe. 

"20th.— This day evening a conference meeting at my house at which I 
gave my hearers an exhortation upon the nature of religion. That it consisted 
much in humility. For any one to commend himself and speak much in his 
own praise was a sign of spiritual pride. There having been some separate 
Baptists in town the day before from Brothertown (so called) i and preached 
up their sentiments, I thought proper to explain some passages of Scripture 
with a design to show [the] folly of some of their doctrines. After this many 
questions were asked and answered. 

"22nd, Lord's Day. a. m.— Read and expounded upon that passage of 
that Scripture recorded in Matthew XVIII. from the first to the sixth verse, in 
which I endeavored to hold up the doctrine of humility. 

" P. M. Took my text from the seventh verse of this chapter. After 
meeting, a number of the Tuscaroras and some Oneida chiefs came in to see 
me; when I repeated my sermon to them by an interpreter. They appeared 
to go away rejoicing that they had heard the word of God. 

"27th.— This evening a conference meeting, at which several questions 
were asked, (viz.); If any one entertains revengeful feelings toward his neigh- 
bor, whether it is not, in the sight of God, murder? Answer: In a degree. 

"29th,p.M.— Preached from Psalm XXXVII. 37. From thence" en- 
deavored to prove the future happy state and condition of the righteous. 

"After I had dismissed my peoi)le, repeated my subject to the Tuscaroras 
by an interpreter. 

"January 10th.— A conference meeting at which several questions were 
asked, (viz.): What is the reason Indians always come so short — they appear 
for a while to prosper in spiritual concerns and their temporal, and then fall 
into a state of i^overty ? Answer : That it a rises in a great measure from the 

» It will be remembered that Brothertown was tlu^ra phxce^jTshsu^p c(Mit(^iUi^,nPi^ 
ably,- such IS the weakness of human nature and the wickedness of sectarianism - the 
division extended to church matters also. Without this, it is not likely that Occom would 
warvtTally Ihe case" ''''"'*' ^'^ ^''^' ^**'^''b"'l^«'- ^hich, as we have reason to believe, 

Of course we can not now tell whether or not Mr. Sergeant was justified in his somewhat 
severe remarks. But am free to say that I don't like them. The presumption is certSly 
.against any who intrude upon mission work among an unstuble people, whether the intruders 



102 IN UNNAMED WIS("ONSIN. 

prejudices of their education from their childhood, contracting bad habits, &c. 
Question : What was the occasion that Christ after his resurrection repeatedly 
asked Peter whether he loved hinir' Answer : It was likely meant as a gentle 
reproof for his bold declaration of attachment to his person at the time he 
was taken the evening before his crucifixion. Question, by a woman : Is it 
their duty to meet together by themselves for prayer to implore the divine inter- 
position in a time of great darkness and inattention to religion? Answer: It 
is no doubt an important duty. 

" 19th, Lord's Day. — Read and expounded on tlie XV. chapter [of] 
Matthew from the 1st to the 3rd verses. After I had dismissed my i>eople, 
preached by an interpreter to a considerable number of the Tuscaroras and 
Oneidas present. 

"25th. — This day an Oneida chief came to my house with a number of 
young people, and informed me that he was sent with a young man and woman 
to request me to join them together in marriage. After examining the relations 
on both sides, — found no objection could . arise, — I pei'formed the ceremony. 
After this I instructed them into the duties of the marriage relation, &c. The 
chief thanked me for my instructions, and said he would use his influence to 
enforce my instructions upon that young married pair, that they never may 
lose this pleasant path of friendship which you have just 'liarked out to them. 

''26^1, Lord's Day. — Forbade the young people the practice of hollowing 
nights. Also announced the sacrament of the Lord's supper to be adminis- 
tered here the next Lord's day. Spoke by an interpreter to the Tuskaries and 
Oneidas as usual. 

"31st. — Attended a sacramental lecture. 

"February 1st. — About twenty of the Oneidas came to my house with a 
desire that I should marry a couple of young people. After I had performed 
the ceremony agreeably to desire, I instructed the young people into the nature 
and importance of the marriage covenant. The pai-ents thanked me and 
promised to enforce my instructions when they returned to their habitation. 

" 2nd, A. M. — Baptized two children and administered the Lord's supper. 
Before I dismissed the assembly, invited all the men who had any concern about 
their own souls, and wished for a reformation, would [to] meet at my house for 
prayer; the women to meet at another house for the same purpose. In the 
evening all the principal men in town came, to the number of fifteen or twenty. 
We spent the evening in prayer and conversation. All agreed to use their 
utmost influence to restrain the young people from every bad practice. 

"I understoofl the women universally met and made two or three prayers. 
Agreed to use their utmost influence also to reform the young women in par- 
ticular. I thought both meetings were -tokens for good. 

"Note. — Since I solemnly warned the young people of the bad, heathenish 
practice of hollowing, &c., out [on] the streets nights, have this satisfaction that 
it appears to be entirely dropped. 

"7th. — This day set out agreeably to invitation and promise to visit the 



THE MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 103 

Tuscaroras and Oneidas, and preach the foUowing Sabbath at the Oneida Town. 

'' Held a conference meeting on my way with the Tuscarovas about noon. 
Thence proceeded with my friend Ciishik for an interpreter towards Oneida. 
Called at the first village, about ten houses. The people gathered at one house, 
when I endeavored to set before them the importance of religion. They ap- 
peared to be very attentive, and thanked me on parting. Then we proceeded on. I 
visited two other houses. Night coming on. I j)ut up at [the home of] Shonandon, 
a worthy Oneida chief. We spent the evening in agreeable conversation upon 
religion. He thanked me that I was so kind to begin this friendly visit; [said J 
that I was heartily welcome to his house. Note: Tliis man has a numerous 
family, very industrious, raises all kinds of grain, has a good number of horses, 
cows, hogs, &c., owns a sleigh and wagon. Understood the last year he raised 
nearly one liundred bushels of wheat. We had a supper of tea, good wheat 
bread and butter. Cushik returned home this evening. But as all the young 
men who understood English and [whom I] had heretofore made use of as inter- 
preters were not in town, and without an interpreter I should lose the useful- 
ness of my visit, I requested him to return the next day and tarry with me till 
after the Sabbath, and I would request the society at Boston to give him some- 
thing for his time and service, to which he agreed. 

"8th. — Saturday noon Cushik returned. We then jjroceeded on our visit. 
Called to see the widow of the famous Indian known by the name of Good 
Peter. * She received me with the greatest possible tokens of joy. told me 
they were all asleep as to religion ; had heard no preaching for three months. 
I proposed a conference meeting in the evening, to which she heartily agreed. 
I had time to visit but eight houses more, two where there were sick with whom 
I conversed freely. Prayed with the sick. In the evening put uj) at [the home 
of] one Scuranis (?), a very good family who came from Ohnaquango and [are] 
members of Mr. Crasbury's ^ church. Here we held our conference meeting. 

■'9th, Lord's Day. — A full meeting, house about twenty feet square- 
Many stood at tho door and windows, could not get into the house. I preached 
from the same words I had lately done to my people, viz., O that they were 
wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. 

" At the conclusion of my sermon observed that they had told me they 
longed for the constant instruction of God's word, that their church affairs 
might be regulated, that they might enjoy the privilege of the/>acrament of the 
Lords supper, that a reformation might take place in their town, that a stop 
might be put to excessive drinking and polygamy,'' that if they really desired 
these things they must pray for them, that God exj)ected his children would 
cry for spiritual blessing. I then exhorted them to meet in prayer once a week 

* " ' Good Peter,' catechist and teaclidr, and the most eloquent man among the Six Na- 
tions, was Mr. Kirkland's assistant."— Miss Electa Jones. 

* Or "Crasburg's." 

^ This reading is in accord with a suggestion made by Secretary Thwaites. Whatever the 
word, it is probably inis.sjielled. and is really indecijdierable. 



104 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

for these blessings. After this, baptized a child. After the assembly was dis- 
missed a number, both men and women, took me by the hand, thanked me for 
my advice [to] them, [and promised] that they would set apart certain seasons 
for prayer, agreeably to my advice, &c. 

" Before I left the house, one of the chiefs desired me to inform the soci- 
ety that although Mr. Caulking had left them through their neglect, yet they 
hoped the society would not think they rejected this great gift, that they should 
early in the spring erect a school house and call the master back. For they 
considered a good school in their own town to be much more beneficial to them 
than to send only a few of their children to be taught in a school among the 
white people. Note : They sent a sleigh with me about half-way. [I] returned 
home before dark ; my people came in. I then gave them a particular account 
of my proceedings. We spent the evening in religious conversation and prayer 
for the outpouring of God's Spirit. The women also met this evening for the 
same purpose." 

This report of the work of a winter that passed a century ago would pro- 
bably serve, except in mere date and detail, for the service done in many an- 
other season. * 

The supposition to which reference has been made, that, while in New 
York, the Stockbridge ti*ibe was considered as forming part of the Iroquois con- 
fetleracy seems to be strengthened by the fact that on the 11th of November, 
1794, when the United States government made a treaty with the " Six Na- 
tions" the Stockbridges also were made a party thereto, and received a propor- 
tionate share of annuities paid out of the national treasury.^ 

At Stockbridge, Massachusetts, there was published, in 1795, doubtless un- 
der Mr. Sergeant's auspices, a little manual of religious instruction containing 
two catechisms: the one commonly called ''shorter," — merely by comparison 
with another, also put forth by the Westminster assembly, — and one for child- 
dren, by that good old bachelor, Dr. Watts. On page 81 of this little pamph- 
let, the printed matter ends with the words : " The foregoing is Printed in the 
Moheakunnuk or Stockbridge Indian language." There may have been an ear- 
lier edition, though I doubt it. These translations were doubtless made by the 
elder Sergeant and his assistant, — perhaps John Quinney, whose son, as we have 
seen, was made chief of the tribe in 1777. 

In 1796 Mr. Sergeant and his people had a visit from Dr. Jedidiah Morse, 
then one of the trustees of the still existing (Boston) "Society for Propagating 
the Gospel among the Indians." ^ At that time the population of New Stockl)ridge 
was about three hundred, a number soon increased. None were professed pag- 
ans, though only about thirty were members of the church. About two-thirds 

1 UiKlor tliis treaty thoy continued to receivG. gifts or payments until 1830, inclusive. 
These varied in different years, being commonly $350 hut sinking in 1827, 1828, and ]82!> to 
$261. Payments on this account were made as lately as IS.iC) and 1842. 

'■' The organization, in 1787, of this society, which now co oporatc^s with the American 
Missionary Association, is one of the evidences of the vitality of our churches in that un- 
liappy time. 



THE MCH-HE-KA-XE-OK ,„- 

1 0.1 



of the men ami „i„e.te„,l„ „, ,he ,vo„,e„ were considered industrions. In tlu, 
yearawlnte „,an was convicted of Winging liquor into .l,e "nation" ari " 

IT,r:fT V 'T *•"," ^'"'■' ""■"'«" ^'- ^"■«-"'« '""-nee, the eg . 
tone „t New lork passed an act forbidding the sale of li„„or to these In- 
<.,an,. I.or h.., act.on in thi. matter the worthy pastor was l.itterfy persecuted 
A term ..wh,te heathen," which he uses more than once, probably ac!^t, 
v,v,d s,g„,hcance a,^ this tin.e. His people were tempte,! and ' illZw 
Whlelu.l,ans sought to keep the .Sabbath, white men violated it. ArtW 
would be pressed „p<,n the Indians in the way of .sale, and later those whosn ' 
posed then,.,elves to be honest purchasers would be arrested as thieves and h 
poss.ss.on of „^t they had bought woul.l be n.sed as evidence against them 
I. n>ay be, as old President Dwight of Yale states in his journal of "Travel, • 
ma letter that g,ves account of a Journey begun 1798, ^ten.ber IGth: "tL 
body of them have. „, „,any respects, sustained a very i erfeet characte, " 

re.-u. h,s o her statement, that ".several of then, have been en.inent for th r 
..ndersta„,l,„g and more for their piety." we ,lo not .loubt that they ..ompared 
favorably with their white neighbors. ompaieil 

Several other of Dr. Dwighfs ren.ark, give information in regard to ,nat 
^rs that have alrea<Iy interested us: "At the last interview which I had with 
M. Sergeant he ,nf„™,ed n,e that his own people were increasing [in numberl- 
not by accumulatmus from other tribes, but in the ordinary course of populi 

*'""• 7"" 'Z "1, "'" """ ''"""*•' "'" "*«•"""' "' '- «-*«■■ as the ehler 
Sergeant hnuselt tells us. Of Brothertown. President Dwight says that those 
who came tlnther ha.1 been resi.lent chie«y in Moutauk and Fa,™ingto „ a d 

ot the Holla,Kl land con.pany. These are in the stxtes of New York and 
I ennsylvania, he tells us. and in area equal Connecticut 

The n,issionary spirit that we have seen in Mr. .Sergeant's .service to neigh- 
bonngtnbes must have communicated itself to his people, for in 1802 we fln.l 

hey called then- grandfathers. an,l to son.e other tribes, to urge then, to ..eeeive 
the go.spel. Of Uns Mr. Seigeant writes: 

"A council w.as held at W„ppe,.„ .ehkoke on the banks of the White 

m-e,- [I„,l,a„a], by Delawa,«s and the .lelegates of the Moheakunnuk n.ation. 
The fo,,ner then accepted all tl.e proposal. .na<le by the lat,*.r. a„,oug which 

b„Thi:i:!r ""■ ' - ~"'"'" ••'''"' <''''"'H".«-')' '-uke .,1 with 

Poor Tate,«h,,sect ! He was then an old n.an doo.ned to ,«,rish soon and 
■ n a ,no.t b arha.^ m^er^Jn^Fel,ma.ya806. a Shawano wiu-h-tinder came 

c„mc??sssenii?t^;vsr.;';v;ffi»fc^^^^ 



106 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

among his people. This villainous heathen accused the poor old man of deal- 
ing-^n poisons. Accordingly he was bound to two posts and his accusers began 
to roast him over a slow fire. Unable to stand the torture he was driven to say 
that he kept poison in the house of a Christian Indian, named Joshua. But 
when the latter was seized and brought to him Tatepahqsect acknowledged that 
the charge was false and was made only to escape torture. To make the dis- 
mal story as short as possible, the heathens murdered both, throwing the un- 
happy chief on the fire before life was extinct, and also burning to death a 
Christian woman. These ferocities led to the breaking up of a Moravian mis- 
sion that had been established in the neighborhood. 

In June, 1806, Mr. Sergeant visited the Onondagas. In reply to his ad- 
dress one of their chiefs " said that they designed to follow his advice, to cease 
from working on the Sabbath, to meet together to worship God, to labor dili- 
gently on their lands * * and to abandon the use of spirituous liq- 
uors." * * The narrative from which this is taken i thus continues 
(but without date): "There appears some prospect of the establishment of a 
school, the introduction of Christianity and the progress of the arts of civiliza- 
tion, among some of the western tribes by means of several of the Stockbridge 
Indians who have been sent to settle among them for these important purposes." 

The foregoing statement may refer to the beginning of the movement by 
which, in time, the entire tribe was transferred from New York. At the time 
of the visit of the Stockbridges to President Washington in 1792, one of the 
delegation, Captain Hendrick (Aupaumut), was chosen by Major-General Henry 
Knox, secretary of war, to go on a mission to the western tribes. Hendrick 
had been a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was present at the surrender of 
Burgoyne and, it is said, had received from Washington himself a commission 
as captain. 

The time of his first service in the West was that between the terrible de- 
feat of the Americans under St. Clair (1791, November 4th) and the victory of 
"Mad" Anthony Wayne (1794, August 20th). 

The success with which Hendrick dischai'ged the duties of his mission to 
the West shows that Mr. Kirkland (by whom he was brought to the notice of 
the secretary) did not overrate the abilities and fidelity of the Stockbridge chief. 
He was one of the most effective opponents of Tecumseh and his brother Elsk- 
watawa, the "prophet," in their great scheme of organizing an Indian confed- 
eracy designed to crush American power in the West. By his advice and ex- 
ertions the Delawares and others were kept aloof from this mischievous scheme. 
He took personal part in the war in which Major-General William Henry Har- 
rison won the military reputation, that, in 1840, helped make him President of 
the United States. 

Soon came the war of 1812, and in this also Hendrick, with otliers of his 
people, took the part of the United States against Great Britain. 

No doubt this war, like that of the Revolution, was an injury to the Stock- 



1 Brown's "History of Missions." I.. 90. 



THE MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 107 

bridge '• nation." Probably, also, it prevented their getting a home on the 
Wliite river. Before what we may i^all the Teeumseh war began, Hendrick 
had formed the plan of leading his people to a new home in the West. More 
than a century before, the Mianiis had given land there to the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, 
and, at some time, to the Delawares also. Settlements of these peoj)le in the 
AVhite river region numbered, in 1818, about eight hundred souls. The title of 
the Stockbridges to what was probably part of the Miami grant, was, in a care- 
fully guarded manner, attested by President Jefferson 1808, December 21st. 
In this transaction Hendrick was the representative of his people. In 1810 he 
and his son Abner were in the White river country and purposed to settle there. 
There is good authority for saying that it was Captain Hendrick who " formed 
tlie plan of collecting all the eastern Indians in that region, where they might 
live in peace with the whites, and in fellowship with each other and, he hoped, 
be no farther wasted." ^ We have seen how this project was interrupted. 

But though it remained in abeyance during the war and for some years 
thereafter it was not forgotten. But in the spring of 1817 the Stockbridges 
were made uneasy by the report that the land to which they had a claim, had 
been sold by the Delawares. But these, in answer to a letter of inquiry, denied 
the charge, adding : " When we rise in the morning, we have our eyes fixed 
toward the way you are to come, in expectation of seeing you coming to sit 
down by us as a nation." 

Accordingly, some of the Stockbridges prepared for removal. Two or 
three families went that year. In June, 1818, Mr. Sergeant thus wrote to Dr. 
Morse: "About five families of my people will start for White river in thi'ee 
weeks. But they are still troubled by reports that the state government of In- 
diana intends to purchase the Indian lands." 

Others were added to the number of those proposing to emigrate. Mr. 
Sergeant collected the whole tribe on Friday, 24th of July, of that year, " with 
the view to have them present at the forming of a church from their tribe " of 
those " who, with a number of others of the tribe, were about to remove and 
form a new settlement. According to a good Puritan custom, a church was 
organized of those who were preparing to make the removal. In the following 
December Mr. Sergeant wrote : " The families left in August, consisting of a 
tliird part of my church-members, and a quarter part of the tribes,— in all 
from sixty to seventy souls from Oneida." The " tribes " are doubtless the 
StDckbridges and Munsees. None of the Oneidas, so far as I know, removed 
to Indiana, and the agitation among them by Eleazar Williams in favor of emi- 
gration westward had s(rarcely then begun. Yet this movement of the Stock- 
bridges could hardly be without effect upon their neighbors. 

But between the two there was thi.s great difference. The Stockbridges 
had left the land of their fathers, and were in a country that to them had 
.scarcely ceased to be new and strange. One removal often prepares the way 

1 Miss Electa Jones. 



^^^ IN UNNAAIP:D \VI8('0XSI\. 

for another. But the Oneidas and the other Iroquois were in their ancestral 
home. Among these, the persuasions of Eleazar Williams produced, outside of 
his own congregation, little effect; opposed, as they were, by the pagan faith 
that still prevailed among the majority of the Iroquois, and by the influence of 
their proud tribal traditions. Moreover, they had land enough, and that by no 
one s gift. But, among the Stockbridges, it would seem that all the influences 
Wed removal. Hendrick (Aupaumut) had formed the plan, it is said, as far 
back as 1809. In favor of it, there seems to have been a feeling virtually 
unanimous. For this, there were many reasons. Notwithstanding the worthi- 
ness of perhaps a decided majority of the white settlers in the surrounding 
community, men of the evil class that is always to be found about Indian res- 
ei^ations were doing mischief and bringing corruption. No doubt, tJie then 
kte war had increased the tendency to drunkenness. At the same time, the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok's faithful service therein had made the United States o-overn 
ment desirous of using them in the West as a barrier against barbarol and 
hostile tribes. Ihe state government of New York was more than willin. to 
have them go. Their Brothertown neighbors were ready for removal. Both 
of these little tribes would find Algonquian kindred in the West; their Iroquois 
neighbors in New York were of alien speech and blood. Among tlie Delawares 
or Menomonees the little Stockbridge church could do a service that was impos- 
sible in New York. No doubt there was a genuine missionary spirit in Mr 
Sergeant's flock, and he believed that in sending his people forth into the wil' 
derness he was sending teachers of civilization and Christianity. 

Thus was made the beginning of a movement that was to add many pa^es 
of exceeding interest to the history af Wisconsin. » 

» The excerpts from the diary of the^eWe7 Ser^^antrfronrth(ri^tt<^,wll^ -; 

other documents of that time, arecliiefly if not wlmllv frn.n H^i! . .^u <-olman. and 

In whatever has been taken f^om ti:^^J^V^Z^Z^T:^Z^^?^^^ ^i^r"-"-" 
liarities in the usa^e of the printers of a century an.l 2 nUf a^ SceS „';:"" w^';; '"""" 
of catcli words and an antique stvle of type Certiin U LTJl'^T "i re^ird to the use 
„0«„: 0„ pa„ 82 .„e „.,„c - Wo«,JS- ap»S U t rar^Sr^^Mt-rtV'" 
and, on page 8.3. tlie name " Sergeant " (in tlie extript f.m,i t».. ,'T ",*'''*^"'" '•«' "' "alic; 
when it should be in small capitals. On Pa^el^^^J^ wL[ :" , .tl^'areat Meadow "V"^';? 
be in parentheses, and on 89 the " e " in " oblige'd - is superfluous ''"'"'^^ 

The punctuation of Mr. Hopkins's most interesting book is not only of a sort now oh«^ 
lete,-as. tor example, the semicolon after "Esq;"- but shows some mi!! w "^ 

These I have not felt it n.y duty to supply nor has i^ bee dtZl Te e^r^trrrt' oT"" 
two evident errors of orthography. correct one or 

The portion of the younger Sergeant's diary herewith given, luis, so far as I know never 
before appeared m print. For the use of it. and for other favors I •. n indeht,.,! flT ' ■ 

daugliter. Mrs. Mary E. Niles. of Trumansburg New York Tt wi . t . "' ^'■^'"'^■ 

that the late Henry Sergeant West. M. D.. Slo^Lry physio an ot^AT^^^ '"any to know 
AsiaticTurkey was a brother of Mrs. Niles! and tlu^ ^.^IJ^^rS t . t g<^S'';.l^;J^; 
Niles. M. D., IS a medical missionary in Canton, China. ' ^ *^^* 

Some doubtful readings in Mr. Sergeant s diary are marked and it mav ho ti...f 
should have been. " Cushik " n.ay be " Cusik." or even " Cussick " h. ce S n plac .^le" 
Mr. sergeant says that "several questions were asked" there h.as been give on h- f . 
that seemed of special interest. ^ " ""'^ *''^ o»e 

Mr. E. W. B Canning (Williams college, class of '34) to whom I owe much in the way both 
o impulse and information, died 18..0. August llth. Hewasachurch clerk who ipil 
ated the importance and dignity of his ottice appreci 

To the Rev. Professor Arthur Latham Perry, D. D.. LI. I). I owe thanks for special favors. 



CHAPTEI^ X. 



STATESBURG AND STOCKBRIDGE. 

Before the westward bound party of the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok could reach their 
destination they heard that the land upon which they were intending to settle 
had been bought by the United States government. ' " What deception some- 
where ! " exclaims Dr. Morse in mentioning this transaction, and contrasting it 
with the rights claimed by the Stockbridges and the assui'ances held out to them 
before beginning their journey. But the Delawares who had given the invita- 
tion could not prevent the sale even of their own homes and another grief was 
added to the long catalogue of their sorrows. From the time of the visit of 
the elder Sergeant, their history and that of the Moravian missions, so closely 
connected with it, is one of shame to almost every one who is mentioned there- 
in, save the Christian Indians and their gentle teachers whom Sergeant misun- 
derstood rather than misjudged. Yet it seems to be true that these too often 
acted as if the command to be wise as serpents were not as much a divine re- 
quirement as the one that bids us be harmless as doves. It is pleasant to know 
that their work and that of Sergeant had blended together even in the little 
company of Muh-he-ka-ne-ew emigrants from New York whose leader, John 
Metoxen, had been educated in a Moravian school at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. ^ 

On hearing of the loss of the land some of the company turned back, but 
Metoxen and others, perhaps forty in number, pushed on. We trace their 
course, in part, by notices concerning their little church. "In May, 1819, 
James McCockle wrote to Mr. Sergeant from Piqua, Ohio, saying that the 
papers of the church-members had been received at that place with cordiality, 
and a communion service appointed on their account. The pastor of the Piqua 
church* frequently preached to them. They had spent the winter in that vicin- 

' By the treaty of St. Mary's, 1818, August 8tli. Apparently this contained no reference 
to the Stockbridges. Says Commissioner W. Medell in a report to Secretary Marcy (184(>, Jan- 
uary 23rd): " I have examined the treaty with the Delawares, made in 1818, for a cession of 
their lands in Indiana, and can find nothing that would lead to the remotest idea that the 
Stockbridges had any interest therein." 

2 Al.so prominent in this movement was Austin E. Quinney. The " E. " is probably for his 
Indian name: Ee tow-o kauni,*as given in Catlin's "North American Indians;" or, E-tow- 
wah-koon (accent on last syllable), as given by Mrs. Frances .lane Pendleton, of Stockbridge 
blood, Shawano, Wisconsin. The meaning is saitl to bo " On both sides of the river." 

* The old church is probably tlie one that is now in the ITnited Presbyterian body, and if 
80, was then, I suppose, connected witli the Associate Reformed synod. 



110 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

ity, and generally been ornaments to their profession." ^ They regularly main- 
tained meetings of their own in which the reading of Scott's Commentaries 
took the place of sermons. This continued until (long after their coming to 
the Green Bay country) they again enjoyed the services of a settled pastor. 

Sickness weakened the little band and death lessened its number. We 
may be reasonably sure that they waited eagerly to hear what Dr. Moi-se might 
accomplish for them at Green Bay. Thither a hundred years before, they had 
been invited to come, if we can trust a tradition that Metoxen fully believed, 
by the Outagamies and the Sauks. That must have been when these were dis- 
puting with the French for the mastery of the region between Lake Michigan 
and the upper Mississippi. There, too, were '• grandchildren " of the Stock- 
bridges, the Menomonees, from whom, evidently, favors were expected. 

All these reasons make it probable that as soon as Metoxen and his party 
heard that a new home had been provided for their people they would set 
about getting there as soon as possible. But their journey must needs be de- 
layed until the cattle could feed by the way, and perhaps until food coultl be 
raised for themselves. For these reasons, we may conclude that it was summer 
or autumn of 1822 when the little company turned their backs upon the region 
where poor Tatepahqsect had been burned and murdered by the ferocious Sha- 
wano witch-hunter. 

On their way, after reaching Lake Michigan, the Stockbridge emigrants 
went in part by canoes upon the water and in part on foot upon the land. 
"They drove their cattle along the shore, camping where night overtook them. 
They swam their cattle across the streams. They had great difficulty in get- 
ting them to cross the river at Chicago, but finally one large animal, bolder 
than the rest, plunged in and the others followed." ^ It would be a bold ox 
that would swim the Chicago river in these days I 

" The small inmiigrant party of some fifty of the Stockbridges, which came 
on this year, located late in the fall at the Grand Kakalin, on the east side of 
the Fox river." The site thus occupied is that of South Kaukauna ; the year 
1822. Mr. Ellis from whom I quote this remark, seems to assume that these 
imn)igrants came from New York. Certainly a party did come thence in 1822, 
for on December 21st of that year (the third) John Sergeant has among the 
items of the report of his mission to Green Bay a charge of $1,670.99 "to ex- 
penses in maintenance, transportation and supplies for the colony left at Green 
Bay." Was it he who chose for his father's people the marvelous site of South 
Kaukavma? It is quite as likely that the choice was made in 1821, under 
the leadership of Solomon U. Hendrick (Aupaumut), the son of the Revolu- 
tionary hero, for the narrow tract-* secured that year included the place where 
there was made in 1822 the first settlement of Stockbridges in what is now 
Wisconsin. Probably, however, the selection was made by many rather than 
by one ; perhaps by the party from Indiana, who may have come earlier than 

^ Miss Electa Jones. 

^ Miss Helen C. Storm, Stockbridge. Wisconsin. 

^ With the Little Chute,— which is not Little Kaukauna,— as its center. 



STATESBUIKJ AND ST( HKIiRlIXJE. Ill 

"the small immigrant party " of which Mr. Ellis speaks, — though I have been 
inclined, without sufficient reason, perhaps, to identify the two. And notwith- 
standing his express state'iient that " the next year [1823] the White river band 
of Stockbridges, headed by John Metoxen, came through by land to the Bay," I 
feel sure that, on this point, he is in error. For Rev. Cutting MarsJi, who from 
1830 to 1848 was missionary pastor of the little (ihurch among the Stock- 
bridge Indians, calls the sojourn in Indiana "'a period of three or four years. 
* * Whilst there, three of their number died." He is speaking, appar- 

ently, of members of the church, and thus continues : •' In 1822 they removed 
to Green Bay with the rest of the remaining colony." This accords with what 
we might expect. ^ For when the Delawares sold the White river land they 
reserved the right of occupancy for three years only, and therefore the limit 
exj)ired in 1821. The pressure of white emigration then pouring into that re- 
gion would make it exceedingly difficult for the Stockbridges to remain there. 
however, much they might desire to do so. By the change in ownership of the 
land on which they had sought to settle they had become trespassers rather 
than tenants at will. Soon, we may be sure, the little church of the pilgrim- 
age, with its attendant band, would be compelled, even if they did not desire, 
to turn their faces northward toward the promised home of all their people. 

Thus came to Wisconsin its first Puritan church. There was here neither 
minister nor priest. But these spiritual children of Sergeant and Edwards did 
not, in the wilderness, forget their God. "They kept up their meetings here 
also." 

They had a worthy leader in Metoxen whose knowledge of Scripture is 
shown in a letter written 1823, December 2nd, from ''Cades, Green Bay" (pro- 
bably Grand Kaukaulin), to John Sergeant, his old pastor. Mentioning the 
arrival of a new band he says: "Our brethren appear to be quite different from 
what they were when I first saw them. I trust that some of them are choos- 
ing God for their portion, remembering that he is the only source of true hap- 
piness for the immoi-tal soul, and grieving because they had forsaken the only 
King of the universe. * * * * It is true, indeed, that the 

soul was made for God, — it came from God and can never be happy but in re- 
turning to him again. - Thus we may have reason to believe that the Spirit of 
the Lord is moving upon them, saying, 'Arise ye and depart, for this is not your 
rest. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where 
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.' " 

Special significance is given to this letter by the remark : " He ami Mrs. 
Metoxen found their backsliding brethren in deep waters. They had exposed 
themselves to err by the use of ardent spirits."^ What temperance work in 

' It is no disparagement to Mr. Ellis,— certainly one of our best authorities on early Wis- 
consin history,— to believe tliat of tlie two Mr. Marsh was likely to be the better informed on 
tliis particular point. 

^ With this remark of Metoxen's it is interesting the famous saying by St. Augustino: 
" Fecisti nos ad te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, donee requicscat in to." " Thou liii.st made 
us for thyself and restless is the heart until it rests in thee." 

=' Even .some of the delegation of 1821 were guilty of drunkenness. 



112 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Wisconsin is of earlier date than that of these Indian Puritans, John Metoxen 
and his wife? With them the struggle against intoxicants was part of the 
gospel. 

" Previous to the arrival of the Rev. Mr. Miner as missionary, Mr. Me- 
toxen was in the habit, as his wife relates, of officiating as a religious teacher 
among the tribe, when they had good meetings and were much engaged in re- 
ligion." i- Surely this first of Wisconsin's deacons "served well and gained to 
himself a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ 
Jesus." 

Years aftei-ward Metoxen was honored, — probably all unknown to him- 
self, — with this fine tribute from his pastor, Rev. Cutting Marsh: "In points of 
general intelligence, manliness and integrity of character, he will not suffer in 
comparison with any white man." 

Deservedly was this man made chief, or sachem, of his tribe ''about 1823." 
He was chosen to this position after the death of Solomon U. Hendrick, who in 
1817 had taken the place formerly held by his father. The elder Hendrick, it 
grieves us to know, had become one of the countless victims of drunkenness. 
He lived on but was no longer fit for the duties of his former office. His ser- 
vice had been one of many years. "In 1771 Benjamin Kok-ke-we-nau-naut, 
called King Ben, ^ being ninety-four years of age resigned his office of sachem, 
and requested his people to elect a successor. Solomon Un-paun-nau-waun-nutt 
was chosen. But Solomon died in February, 1777, while Ben lived until 1781, 
dying at the age of one hundred four. After the deatli of King Solomon, the 
government, it is said, devolved upon Joseph Quan-au-kaunt * * 

now generally spelled Quinney. He divided his power more equally with his 
counselors, Peter Poh-quon-nop-peet, Captain Hendrick Aupaumut and Captain 
John Konkapot."^ 

It was no mock government that these men maintained. Pastor Sergeant, 
the younger, drew up a code of laws for his people while they were in New 
York. The legal authority of the tribe was not dissolved in that state until 
1827. Thus for a time there was tribal rule both in New York and in what is 
now Wisconsin. 

But white men were beyond their control. The ever-present evil of intem- 
perance called forth a letter from them to Governor Cass of Michigan Terri- 
tory. They complained of "the alai'ming ravages of spirituous liquors. It is 
an evil we wished to be free from, and came into this distant clime with the 



* From "The Last of the Mohicans," by Levi Konkapot, .Ir., in volume IV. of the " Wis- 
consin Historical Collections." 

2- This " King Ben " could not, of course, be the one whoni John W. Quinney calls " the 
last of the hereditary chiefs of tlie Muh-he-con-new Nation." For this " King Ben was in his 
prime in 1G45," wlien "agrand council was convened of the Muh-lie-con-iiew tribe, for the 
purpose of conveying from the old to the young men, a knowledge of the past." Of this 
" knowledge " we have a portion at tlie beginning of the last chapter. 

^ Miss Jones's " History of Stockbridge." This John Konkapot was probably son or nepli- 
ew of the old captain. Poli-quon-nop-peet graduated from Dartmouth college in 1780, was 
often called " Sir Peter " and was son of the deacon named on page 90. 



STATESBFRG AND ST<)(^Kimil)(;p:. 113 

hope of finding a resting-place, and the hope of being gi'eatly useful, bj' our 
examples, toward civilizing that portion of our Indian brethren with whom we 
should have intercourse; but we are sadly disappointed in this." Cass called 
the attention of the government to the matter, and writing under date of 1826, 
December 9th, expresses the wish that Congress would act in the matter 
" promptly and efficaciously. Unless they do so," he adds, " vain are our efforts 
to improve the condition of the Indians, and false and delusive will be our 
hopies." 

The following year must have been one of keen disappointment to the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. For, by the treaty of Little Butte des Morts,i the land on 
which they were living was sold to 1827, August 8th. To their claims and 
rights, as had been the case in Indiana, there was paid practically no attention 
by those who framed the treaty. - How the Senate secured their rights we have 
already learned. This just action on the part of that body was taken, partly 
no doubt, in consequence of "a petition and appeal" made by the Indians in- 
terested, — both those in the Green Bay region and their brethren in New York. 
In this matter, John W. Quinney seems to have represented all the " New York 
Indians" then living in what is now Wisconsin, and for a number of years he 
was the principal business agent of his people. 

Notwithstanding the treaty of Little Butte des Moi'ts the Stockbridges re- 
mained at Grand Kaukaulin, which sometime during the years of early occupancy 
came to be called Statesburg. Indian emigration from New York continued. 
" The plan of removal was by detachments, — one to go each year until all were 
removed."-* Means were provided by the sale of the reservation given them 
by the Oneidas, — the state of New York being the purchaser. The first sale, 
thus made, was of four thousand five hundretl acres in 1813. Other purchases 
were made by the state in 1822, 1823, 1825 (when for the first time, according 
to Mr. Quinney, the New York legislature paid an Indian tribe full value for 
its land), in 1826, 1829 and 1830. Even in 1842 and 1847 agreements in re- 
gard to the transfer of land were executed by the New York land-commission- 
ers and the Stockbridges. 

The ''Winnebago war" of June. 1827, gave the Stockbridges and Oneidas 
an opportunity of showing their allegiance to the United States. Sixty-two of 
them joined a company raised by "General" William Dickinson and "Colonel" 
Ebenezer Childs. The " war " was scarcely more than several atrocious mur- 
ders in the vicinity of Prairie du Chien. There is reason to fear that associ- 
ation with "Colonel" Childs would offset much teaching on the subject of tem- 
perance and almost every other virtue. Those who wonder that Christianity 
has accomplished no more for the Indians should remember that in its work 
for them it has had to contend with the vices of civilization as well as with 
those of savagery. 

' See page 57. Also on page 24, an account of tlie massacre of Outaganiies by Marin. 
^ Governor Ltiwis Cass and Colonel Thomas L. McKinney, on the part of the United 
States. They treated with tlte Menomonees and Winnebatroes only. 
* Jolui W. Quinney. 



114 IN UNNAMED WISf^ONSlN. 

But the year 1827 was not, to the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, one simply of misfor- 
tune. In July of that year Mr. Sergeant's successor at New Stockbridge, Rev. 
Jesse Miner came to Statesburg, under the auspices of the American Board. 
He was evidently considering the question of removal westward with the peo- 
ple whom he had been serving in New Stockbridge. He spent some weeks 
with the little pilgrimage church that had been pastorless ever since its or- 
ganization in 1818. Thus began, — if we except Williams's work, and the 
winter's stay (1824-1825) of Rev. Norman Nash, i — the first Protestant pas- 
torate in what is now Wisconsin. 

After his return to New Yoi*k Mr. Miner made ready to remove his fam- 
ily, and engaged the late John Y. Smith, so well known in Wisconsin history, 
to come West "to erect or work upon the mission buildings." Of the two, Mr. 
Smith was the first to come, next spring, to Green Bay where he arrived on the 
18th of May, 1828. That was Sunday, and, we may be reasonably sure that a 
strict Presbyterian, like Mr. Smith, would go no farther that day, if he could 
avoid doing so. His passage had been paid by Mr. Miner, who also furnished 
him with twenty dollars to buy tools. But when the young missionary-carpen- 
ter started from Utica he had only a dollar and a quarter in his pocket. No 
doubt he would get at work as soon as possible. In Librarian Durrie's sketch 
of the life of Mr. Smith 2 it is said that ''his first employment was on the mis- 
sion-house near Green Bay, and afterwards at Kaukauna, among the Stock- 
bridges." The reverse of this much more likely to be true. Mr. Durrie wrote 
merely from a somewhat indistinct recollection of what Mr. Smith told him.^ 
Mr. Miner was soon to bring on his family and a house would be needed for 
their reception. For all these reasons we may conclude that Mr. Smith's first 
work in unnamed Wisconsin was at Statesburg. 

Nor would he build in wood alone. This reader of Milton and of Ed- 
wards strove no doubt, to please his Indian neighbors "for their good unto edifi- 
cation." He had been chosen because of the character that was in him as well 
as for the skill of his hands. 

The home that he built for Mr. Miner may have been the second framed 
house in Wisconsin. It was a story-and-a-half structure and stood on or near 
the present site of the railway "round-house" at South Kaukauna. Distant 
three-fourths of a mile, or thereabout, stood, or was soon built, a church that 
was used also as a school. This was of logs, and may have been built, at Mr. 
Miner's suggestion, the summer before. However, it is never safe to presume of 
a body of Indians that they will be in haste to engage in any work of this kind 
or show much perseverance in finishing it. A living witness, ** who was brought 
as a child to Statesburg in 1829 seems to remember the building as standing 
when he came. Afterward he attended school in it. Whether built in 1827 

» See chapter on the history of Green Bay. 
2 "Wisconsin Historical Collections," volume VII., page 452. 
^ As he stated in conversation with the writer hereof. 

♦ George Thomas Bennett, born at Cedar Hill, Albany county. New York, 22nd of Au- 
gust. 1823. 



STATESBriKJ AM) STOCKBKIIXJE. 115 

or in 1828 this building was, for a time, the only house of worship in Wiscon- 
sin. For the combination church-and-school which the Roman Catholics began 
at Shantytowu in 1823 had been burned. 

Mr. Miner arrived at his new home (probably) on the 20th of June, 1828. 
Strengthened by the work of the summer before, his people had proved faithful. 
"• During the pi-eceding winter, when no missionary or teacher was among them, 
they kept up religious worship on the Sabbath, the monthly concert for prayer. 
Sabbath school, weekly conference, female prayer meeting, and meeting of 
young people for reatling the Scriptures." ^ There are some churches that do no 
better than this even when they do have a pastor. 

There probably never was a genuine Puritan church without a school close 
at hand. One was established at Statesburg, in 1828. It was taught by Miss 
Electa Quiuney^ who had spent six years in the famous foreign-mission school 
at Cornwall, Connecticut, and had been a teacher among her own people in New 
York. Thus Statesburg has the honor of establishing what was practically the 
first of American free public schools in the region between Lake Michigan and 
the Mississippi; and Miss Quinney herself, with one possible exception, •* was 
our first schoolmistress, — the first teacher, indeed, of a free school. 

An assistant missionary, Augustus T. Ambler, who is called a physician in 
the "Missionai-y Herald" for January, 1829, arrived at Statesburg, 1828, No- 
vember 4th. It may be that he came to do school work, but if so, the state of 
his health forbade it. A change of field did not long preserve his life. Going 
southward he died in 1831 at one of the missions among the Choctaws. 

The winter of 1828-29 was one of special interest in the re-organized mis- 
sion. A letter from Mr. Miner published, without date, in the " Missionary 
Herald " of June, 1829, gives the subjoined narrative : " The good work of God 
is still going on in this place, and I hope with increasing power. Eight of the 
natives were added to the church the first Sabbath in this month ; ^ also two of 
my sons, and one mechanic laboring at this station, making the whole number 
added since my arrival twenty-five. About fifteen others are indulging hopes, 
some of them, I believe, on good grounds. Meetings are solemn, still, refresh- 
ing. Most of the youth are seriously concerned, or hoping. Meetings are full 
on the Sabbath." This was doubtless the first religious revival in Wisconsin. 

But the hand that sent the glad tidings was even then forever still. His 
pastorate had ended with his life on the 22nd of the preceding March. Near 
where he labored in life his people made his grave. " I am sorry," writes Mr. 
Miner's daughter,^ that I can tell you so little of my father. An old Indian 
woman whom I met six years ago, who had belonged to his church, said that he 
was like a father to the Indians and they loved him much. They gave him an 

' "Missionary Herald," .Tainiary, 1829. 

2 Indian name: " VVuh-weh-wee-nee-meew;" or, " Woh-weh-wee-nee -meew." 

^ " In 1828 the rive American families at Siianty Town, jiow a part of Green Bay, erected 
a log school house and imported a youni? lady teacher from the East — Miss Caroline Russell." 
— Reuben Gold Thw.vites, in " History of Education in Wisconsin." 

4 February, perhaps. But the winter mails of that time were few and irregular. 

* Mrs. M. A. Whitney, Grand Crossing. Illinois. 26th of May. 1801. 



116 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Indian name, Wah-nuh-wah-nieet, which means 'very true man.'i He died at 
the age of forty-seven. The Indians had these words placed on his tombstone : 
'He shall gather the outcasts of Israel together.' He hatl translated many of 
our hymns into their language, forming quite a hymn-book, from which they 
sang at his funeral. My father lies buried in the cemetery at Kaukauna, to 
which he was removed from the old mission burying-ground. ^ Metoxen was 
loved of my father and revered of my elder brothers." 

In the spring of 1829, Mr. Quinney, who had been in New York and Wash- 
ington to protest against the ratification of the treaty of Little Butte des Morts, 
"collected the poor of the Stockbridge nation, who were unable to remove 
themselves, to the number of thirty souls, and returned home with them." This 
was virtually the end of the tribal emigration, though our warrior-friend, Cap- 
tain Hendrick (Aupaumut) did not leave New York until the following Sep- 
tember. 

On the 24th of the same month Cutting Marsh, a missionary for the Stock- 
bridge tribe, was ordained in the famous Park-street church of Boston. ^ 

The early closing of navigation that year prevented Mr. Marsh from 
reaching his field of service until spring. He spent the Winter, — profitably as 
he thought, — with friends at an Indian mission station, Maumee, Ohio. '' Thurs- 
day, April 9th," he writes in his diary, "took my leave of the mission friends 
at Maumee. The Sabbath following, was at Monroe [Michigan], and preached. 
* * The next Sabbath was at Detroit, and Tuesday following, April 

20th, set sail for the Bay ; passed four days at Mackinaw Very pleasantly, and 
arrived at the Bay, April 30th. May 1st, Satui'day, went on board a boat at 
the Bay, for Statesburgh, and arrived about half past ten that evening, in safe- 
ty, though much fatigued. May 2nd, Sabbath, preached for the first time to 
an Indian congregation. Was struck with the order which prevailed in the 
house of God, the attention with which they listened, and their apparent 
solemnity." * * * * 

Good order has always been noted as a characteristic of the religious meet- 
ings of these people. Of this fact and others, we have an interesting witness 
in Mr. Colton, who reported for us his recollection of the speeches made by 

^ Without doubt Mrs. Whitney is in error. It is probable that what she sought to trans- 
literate is the Muh-he-ka-ne-ew term "Wah-wehnuh-maht," "This true man." Literally it 
may be " This true one," for the word for " man " is " nion-naow." 

2. This was done cliietiy by the reverent thoughtfulness of Herbert Battles Tanner, M. D., 
of South Kaukauna. 

The stone now at the grave bears the inscription (with errors) : 

In Memory of 

JESSE MINER, 

Born Sept. 20. 1781. 

Commenced the Moheakumuk Mission 

AT THIS place, JUNE '20, 1828. 

DIED March -22, 1829. 

Aged 49. 

s The occasion mu.st have been one of peculiar interest. Fifteen others were ordained at 

the same time, one other for service among Indians, two for work in foreign lands, three to 

become agents for benevolent institutions, and nine to be home missionaries. Tlie services 

were under the direction of the presbytery of Newburyport. 




Z^cv-. \^uttiyt<^ Jl/LcL^:i^h. 



I 



STATESIU'K(} AND ST( K'KlUUDdIv 117 

John Metoxen at tlie council of 1830. "Writing under date of August 16th of 
that year, Mr. Colton gives a most entertaining account of the Stockbridge set- 
tlement on Fox river, at " Grande Kawkawlin " as he calls it. He explains that 
"Kawkawlin" means "falls" or "rapids," adding that "Grande" is French and 
needs no explanation. "I am now writing," he says, "from the mission house 
of the American Board. The Stockbridges number about three hundred fifty 
souls, and have })robably made greater attainments in the English language and 
manners, and in the useful arts of civilized life, and also in the Christian relig- 
ion, than any other tribe of the aborigines on the continent; except that the 
Brotherton Indians have so long used English as to have lost their mother 
tongue. But in the moral state of society and in general improvement the 
Brothertons are far behind the Stockbridges." * The day before was Simday 
.and Mr. Colton had attended service. Amid over-hanging trees there was a 
well-built log church, used also as a school. It would seat a congregation of 
three hundred. There was a Sunday-school with Indian teachers and a white 
superintendent (probably J. D. Stevens). All the congregation were " neatly 
dressed in a costume about half way between the European habit and that of 
the wild tribes." This, to Mr. Colton's mind, suggested the degree of their 
civilization. "The men seldom wear hats." There were differences in dress 
indicating, as among whites, "social standing, degree of respectability, and do- 
mestic wealth." The afternoon sermon w^as "interpreted for the benefit of the 
small portion of the tribe who do not understand English." The singing is 
highly and, I doubt not, deservedly praised. It was probably in both lan- 
guages. 

" The staff and office of parish beadle " ^ particularly interested our trav- 
eler. He thinks it probable that the office, with its peculiar duties, originated 
in the time of John Sergeant, and makes no mention of #ie probability that it 
was merely a transference to an Indian church of a custom, — that of choosing a 
tithin^-man, — existing at that time anung their white neighbors. "The staff in 
the present instance was a green switch about ten feet long which the function- 
ary had cut from the wood as he came to church." This was used with such 
vigor about the ears of at least one disorderly boy that they must have burned, 
Mr. Colton thinks, the rest of the day. A sleeping adult was roused by hitting, 
with the heavy end of the "switch," the stove-pipe until it rang, the beadle 
meanwhile crying out in Indian, " Wake up there ! " This official is spoken of 
as severely and strictly impartial, and our traveler does not doubt that even a 
stranger would be duly admonished if there should be need. On this particu- 
lar occasion, though the preacher was manifestly disturbed, the congregation re- 
mained unmoved, taking the whole proceding as a matter of course. The 
drowsy one gave good heed to the rest of the sermon, and the fact is noted that 
the congregation was very attentive. 

Another thing that especially interested Mr. Colton was the fact that after 

' Not so now, wliatever may have been the case in 1830. 
- Mr. Coltoii's book was meant for British readers. 



118 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

the benediction the congregation sat down, giving those nearest the door an op- 
portunity to retire. Others then followed without confusion. 

The next entry in Mr. Marsh's diary is dated on the Sunday after Mr. Col- 
ton's visit, August 22nd. " On the whole I have passed the time agreeably." 
He hAs been led to believe that he is somewhat esteemed by his people, but 
speaks of the astonishing fickleness of many of them. "I seem almost to be 
amongst the children of Israel who one day sing God's praises and perhaps the 
next murmur against him." There had been one case of discipline, — for in- 
temperance. He continues : 

'' In respect to these Indians, a dal'k cloud seems to be gathering over their 
future prospects. Notwithstanding all their precautions, government seems de- 
termined, if possible, to drive them from this, their supposed last, retreat. 
They seem to be in trouble and hardly know what to do. * * * 

'' August 29th (Sabbath). Things outwardly appear dull and discouraging. 
Almost all of my dear peojile, both men and women, absent at the Bay attend- 
ing the treaty with the agents of government. Oh ! when will they become 
more stable, and less attracted by what is new or of a public nature. AVhen 
will they feel that providing for their families both food and clothing, taking 
care of their crops and farms, are objects of the greatest temporal importance, 
or more [important] than running where they are not asked and can accom- 
plish no real good! No preaching; the number so small; but [I] occupied the 
time in the morning, after reading the CIII. psalm in making remarks, together 
with Mr. Stevens." 

With this entry it is interesting to compare those made about the same 
time by Commissioner McCall. We have had^ a part of his record, — a part 
that pertains to the business for which the council was called together. Addi- 
tional portions here reproduced make known some of the utterly demoralizing 
features of the occasion, and show to what sort of influences the Indians were 
exposed from nearly all their white neighbors at the vile, mongrel Green Bay of 
sixty-four years ago. '*At night," — August 27th, — says Mr. McCall, '*a band 
of the Winnebagoes appeared, painted all coulors — not only their faces but 
their bodies — before the door of the house where we boarded, incouraged by 
some and Treated by others with whiskey. They held the war dance and kept 
it up until 10 o'clock at night, with all their disfigured and distorted counte- 
nances^ naked except Breech clouts. All, with some kind of warlike weapon 
and horrid yell, made them resemble so many infernals." On Saturday, the 
28th, "after we adjourned about 70 Pottowatimies came in — ^all to git rations, 
as they had no concern in the treaty or councel. At evening the Winnibagoes 
held another war dance in which the head chief, Four-Legs, displayed great 

activity. 

"29. Sunday. Laid by. About-9 o'clock Four- Legs came to the house 
and asked if we wanted them to dance. We told them it was Sunday, or day 
to worship the Great Spirit. He said white man sent him Telling him we 

' On page 50. 



STATESBrRG AND STOOKBRIDGE. 119 

wished to have them dance, as there would be no councel. No doubt some per- 
son did it for To make sport." 

The heathen Fore-Legs I Were he only living now he would find many 
" Christians " ready to dance with him, — and, for that matter, to get drunk with 
him. — OH Sunday; some of whom would be moved to the deepest indigna- 
tion at the denial of religiojis liberty involved in the proposition that the state 
may justly require the use of its official language in the instruction of the chil- 
dren of its own citizens. 

Had Commissioner McCall been of the sort that many officials are, he 
would have had '' Four-legs " and his company dance, have given them whisky, 
and then, on his return home, been ready to express the opinion that it is im- 
possible to civilize or Christianize the Indians. 

'*I have forgot to mention," says Mr. McCall in his entry for the next 
Tuesday, "that a drunken soldier posted near the Indian encampment to guard 
a field of potatoes & corn, stabed a Menominee chief — a harmless old man — 
by the name of Big Soldier. The soldier was put under guard and probably 
will be punished for getting drunk on his post and for improper conduct as a 
soldier." We wonder if Mr. McCall smiled when he wrote next day, ''To the 
Indian wounded by the soldier yesterday we presented one bbl, pork, one bar- 
rel of flour and 'S bushels of corn, and then the j'ouncel Broke up" (Septem- 
ber 1st.) 

•'Without accomplishing the object for which it was called together," he 
might have added. Reasons for this we have already learned: There was 
the natural desire of the Menomonees and the Winnebagoes to keep their land. 
To be sure they had more than they needed and had accepted from the New 
York Indians payment for part of it. But those who may have authority to 
make a contract do not always have the continuance of life and power to carry 
it out. Such was the case in this instance, Mr. J. W. Quinney tells us. More- 
over, in every community there is always a dishonest party, and the Menomo- 
nees and the Winnebagoes knew very well that what they could keep from the 
New York Indians they could sell to the United States. That was what the 
Americans at Green Bay wished them to do. This class of whites desired to 
get rid of the Indians already there rather than to have any more come. To 
throw all obstacles possible in the way of further Indian immigration was a 
work that required a knowledge not possessed by the ignorant Menomonees and 
Winnebagoes, and there were not wanting nieans by which payment could be 
secured for such service. As to the French of Green Bay they, of course, 
would be inclined to take sides with the Menomonees among whom they had so 
many kinsmen. Religion, too, which like so many other things, serves, accord- 
ing to its quality, one extreme or the other, was in this case, if Mr. Ellis has 
rightly informed us. brought to bear among the Roman Catholics of Green Bay 
against the coming of the New York Indians because they were Protestants. 
Tlien we must not forget the preposterous schemes and broken promises of 
Eleazar Williams, nor the extravagant claims of the New York Indians them- 



120 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

selves, — moi'e than three hundred four acres of land to '' every soul intei'ested." 

After the breaking up of the council, the Indians who had been impudent 
in their refusals as related to the " Wappinackies," or New York Indians, be- 
came equally impudent in beggary for themselves. Mr. McCall tells the story : 

"In the afternoon [of the day when the council finally adjourned] the 
com'rs were invited to attend at the agent's house to hear what the Indians had 
to say to him. ^ After their usual formalities they began by stating they were 
poor and ignorant creatures, and they wanted to know where all the commis- 
sioners' instructions came from and no presents. That they were going home 
to gather their rice and they had no Tobacco to smoak, and instead of a pipe 
they had to put a stick in their mouth. Tliat they wanted 2 days' rations to 
help them home. That they wanted powder & shot to assist them to procure 
meat for their children. Besides, the current was strong to push against and 
they wanted to suck one of their father's breasts — that milk would make them 
strong — meaning a keg of whiskey to suck at. Then paused a little and said 
that they had heard of their great father the president, and wanted to go and 
see him, but was so poor that [they] could not go without his help, and wanted 
the agent to write to the president to furnish them with clothing and expenses, 
and for the agent or some other person to accompany them with an interpreter. 
Also to go to Washington. A fiiie Job for two or three to viake money. A 
plan got up by Judge [James D.] Doty and the Grigions to rob the Treasury 
of some eight or ten thousand dollars." 

On the next Friday '"the wounded Indian came with two or three others, 
as our interpreter informed us, To take his leave of us and to ask for a blanket, 
a shirt and some Tobacco which we gave him, and to 3 others gave each a shirt 
— being the last of what 4 ps. of Blue callico made, as it has been a fashion 
to give every one a shirt that cjmes to dine. Towards evening the old man was 
as drunk as any of them." 

What wonder that Mr. Marsh lamented that so many of his people had 
gone to form part of such a thi-ong as Mr. McCall pictures to us ! The mot- 
ley crowd had to be fed by the commissioners, and by the greatest number ^ of 
rations issued in any one day, — 1872, — we have a datum from which to esti- 
mate the largest attendance. 

Two of the commissioners, Mr. McCall and Mr. Root, -^ believed in the 
substantial justice of the claims made by the Stockbridges, the Oneidas and the 
Brothertowns. The third member of the commission, Mr. John T. Mason, did 
not " concur in the position taken in relation to the claim of the New York In- 
dians." But his colleagues seem to be supported in their views by the terms of 
the treaties on which said claim was based. The first, — that of 1821, — sold a 
tract, the boundaries of which are thus given : " Beginning at the foot of the 
rapids on the Fox river, usually called the ""Grand Kakalin ; thence up said river 

» Samuel C. 8tambaugh was then in cliarg^e of the Indian asency. 

2 " Greatest number l,44r) M.— 75 Win.— N. Y. 191 — Cliip. Ifil. per day," is the way Mr. 
McCall gives the statement. 

3 See note 1, page fitt. . 



STATESBURG AND STOCKBRllKiK. 121 

to the rapids at the Winnebago lake, and from the river extending hack in this 
width on each side to the northwest and the southeast equidistant with the hinds 
claimed by the said Menominie and Winnebago nations of Indians." Mr. El- 
lis describes the tract as having '* the Little Chute as a center." i He further 
tells us that '• after much deliberation, and a good deal of hesitation, it was con- 
cluded, on the advice, chiefly, of Hendrick, the Mo-he-kun-nuck chief, to accept 
the grant."- For this the New York Indians paid two thousand dollars. 

"The acquisition by this treaty," say Messrs. McCall and Root in contin- 
uing their report, " did not give perfect satisfaction to every portion of the New 
York Indians. * * They were therefore prompted to solicit the Gov- 

ernment for its aid in jirocuring an extension of the cession. * * The 

Government efficiently aided them in the accomplishment of their object 
* * and ajjpointed an Agent [John Sergeant, Jr.] to superintend the 

negotiation on the part of the United States. Thus encouraged and sustained, 
they concluded a treaty with the Menominie nation * * at Green 

Bay on the 23rd of September, 1822. By this treaty the Menominies ceded, 
released and quit claimed to the New York Indians all their right, title, inter- 
est and claim to a large tract of country containing at least five millions of 
acres, rather undefined, but limited southwesterly by lands ceded to them the 
year liefore, by the Winnebagoes and Menominies, and by the Mannawahkiah 
(supposed to be the Minnewawkie) river,-* easterly and northeasterly by Lake 
Michigan and the Bay des Enock,-"* northerly and northwesterly by the height 
of land between the waters of Lake Superior and those running into Green 
Bay and Lake Michigan. This cession was made in consideration of three 
thousand dollars." 

This is the treaty that the Menomonees afterward so vehemently repudi- 
ated. But the New York Indians strenuously insisted on the rights. What 
these were was referred by the next treaty. — that of Little Butte des Morts, 
— to the President for arbitration, and it was to aid in determining the ques- 
tions involved that the commission of 1830 was appointed. Its work was not 
wholly in vain, though the Stockbridges and Brothertowns were not able to keej) 
the places where they had matle their homes. Again Mr. Quinney was called 
upon to represent at least the former in business then pending at Washington. 
For the scheme so indignantly denounced by Mr. McCall was in some measure 
carried out though not, so far as apjiears, by the men whom he named. Acting- 
Agent Samuel C. Stambaugh, who had been a leading marplot in defeating the 
aims of the commissioners, soon made ready to go to Washington taking with 
him some fourteen of the Menomonees. This party left Green Bay on the 8th 
of November, 1830. 

We learn from Mr. Marsh's diary that he was fully in sympathy with his 

> See page 56, where, to my great regret, the " Little Chute " is mistakenly identified with 
the Little Kaukaulin, or Little Kaukauna. 

^ "Wisconsin Historical Colleotioiis," volume IL, page 426. 
^ The Milwaukee river. 
4 Either the Big or the Little Bay de Noquet. Escanaba, Upper Michigan, in on the former. 



122 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN 

people. Under date of October 28th, he wrote: "Went to Green Bay in com- 
pany with Mr. Metoxen, Saturday night. Stayed at the Rev. Mr. Cadel's 
rCadle's], and was very kindly and hospitably entertained. Sunday, A. M., 
heard him preach. Sermon upon the death of Bishop Hobart. In the after- 
noon, [I] went to the garrison and preached to the soldiers. About 100 present, 
and all ga^e good attention. 

"Monday, November 1st. Just one year from the time 1 landed at De- 
troit. Parted from J. W. Quinney and Mr. [Robert] Stewart [Stuart] from 
Mackinaw who sailed in the Mariner, Captain Johnson. Tuesday, 2nd. Re- 
turned to Statesburgh. 

"Wednesday, 10th. Went to Green Bay and passed the remainder of the 
week; but, alas, little satisfaction can be taken there: all is discord and con- 
fusion. Hardly knew what to do in respect to the affairs of the Indians; their 
state is indeed precarious and involved in uncertainty. 

"November 25th, 1830. The day set apart for Thanksgiving and prayer. 
* * Solemnized a marriage, it being [of] a couple who had lived to- 

gether in an unlawful manner. The manner in which the marriage covenant is 
treated here [is] truly a great evil, and in consequence, society is very nmch 
disorganized, and it is but one of the lamentable evils that abound here. 

"Sabbath, December 5th. Spoke against parents' interfering in marriages 
of adult sons and daughters. So far as I understand the Bible, childi-en are 
not under obligation to obey their parents in this respect * * [though] 
their consent should be asked, and, if possible, obtained. The interference of 
parents * * has caused great confusion among this people. * * 

In the evening, a meeting at Mr. Metoxen's [at which he notes that Austin 
E. Quinney spoke in English]. 

"Sabbath, January 2d, [1831]. Mr. and Mrs. Whitney from Green Bay 
attended the meeting. 6th. Went up to Smithfield, and made some calls and 
addressed a few at Mr. Smith's. [On the 11th, he went again to Smithfield, 
which, I am inclined to think, was an Oneida settlement that he is soon to tell 
us about. A hymn that he gave out they sang in Mohawk.] 

"Saturday, January 22nd. In the forenoon went [from Green Bay] to 
Duck Creek. Passed the night and Sabbath at Mr. Beard's who belongs to the 
church. Immediately after my arrival, received a message from some of the 
leading men that they had received orders from Mr. Williams not to hear any 
minister preach of another denomination, and so I must not preach. O liow 
unlike the spirit of Jesus Christ. [He attended service as a hearer.] Found 
perhaps sixty or seventy present, of all ages. The [Episcopal] church service 
was read and accompanied with singing twice, and a short portion of Scripture 
was read from one of the Gospels and then the services were concluded, in all 
occupying perhaps half or three-quarters' of an hour. Alas, how jejune, and 
liow little calculated to enlighten and instruct the ignorant are such services ! 
In the evening, attended what was called a prayer meeting. When I arrived, 
found the meeting had commenced, and after I arrived they sang about a dozen 



STATESBURG AND STOCKBRIDGE. 323 

times, and then read a prayer, the same they had in the day time, and the meet- 
ing broke up. Felt poorly paid for walking a mile to attend a meeting where 
there seemed to be neither the life nor the power of godliness. Still I hope 
that I am unfeignedly thankful that God has cast my lot among a i)eople where 
it is entirely different, — where there appears to be much of a spirit of genuine 
piety, and where our social meetings are often highly interesting and spiritual. 

"Was very hospitably entertained in the family of Mr. Beard who is a 
member of the Episcopal church. His appears to be a spirit of genuine kind- 
ness, unmingled with ostentation, or without expecting a reward. His family 
consists of a wife and three children — one of them able to read in the New 
Testament, which is the case with very few of the Oneidas. 

"Monday, 24th. Returned to the Kakalin. Tuesday, 25th. Went to 
Smithfield, and attended to the Sunday-school there. ^ On the way, called at 
Metoxen's and saw his infant child die. 

"Tuesday, February 3rd. * * Mr. Stevens absent at the Bay. 

* * In his absence, am teaching the school. * * Had but 
just commenced my school when word came that Abram Abrams had frozen to 
death in a drunken fit! * * At two o'clock, went and attended the 
funeral of a young man, Dolly Isaac's son, at Smithfield. Saturday, 12th. 
Eclipse of the sun. Commenced a little after 10 o'clock, A. m. The whole ob- 
scuration [lasted] about two and one-half, or perhaps, two and one-fourth hours.'' 

On the 2nd of May. 1831, Mr. Marsh made repoi't to the " venerable so- 
ciety" in Scotland, "having been certified by the Rev. Dr. John Codman, sec- 
retary of your Board in Boston, of my appointment * * as mis- 
sionary among the Indians. 

" The settlement of the Stockbridge Indians is situated ujjon the south-east 
side of Fox river, near what is called the Grand Kacalin or Big Rapids, 

* * and extends along the river about four miles in length, and from 
one and a half to two in breadth. 

" About one hundred of the Oneida tribe who left the state of New York 
last summer have joined the Stockbridge Indians; [have] settled down on the 
Fox [river], two or three miles above them." When Mr. Marsh made his 
report, he and Mr. Stevens were holding meetings, once each Sabbatli, with 
these Oneidas. Other services, and a Sunday-school of twenty-five or thirty 
pupils, they maintained by themselves. 

This settlement is probably Mr. Marsh's "Smithfield." We may be sure 
that these Oneidas were of the "Orchard" or Methodist party, — the people to 
whom Mr. Clark came in the following year (1832). Here it was, no doubt, 
that he built the first Methodist chapel in the vast region between Lake Mich- 
igan and the Pacific ocean. ^ 

* "Bible school," or" school for religious instruction," is, I suppose, what Mr. Marsh had 
in mind. 

^ See page (j<>. After the printing thereof, I had opportunity by the favor of Rev. A. V. C. 
Schenck, D. D., of Madison, stated clerk of the Pn^sbyterian Synod of Wisconsin, to examine 
and to use Mr. Marsh's diary. This is condusivt^ on .some points of our early Wisconsin his- 



124 IN UN-NAMED WISCONSIN. 

[1831] Thursday. July 7th. Attended a wedding at Mi-s. Hendrick"s. 
Samuel ^liller and Harriet Jehoiakini were united in the conjugal relation. On 
account of difficulties which have hitherto been occasioned by methotl adopted 
in marrying, resolved to adopt a new course, viz. : to ask the individuals if it is 
their sincere desire to marrj". dee. 

••At Mrs. Hendrick's." Perhaps the widow of the old soldier. i^ Hen- 
drick himself died some time the smnmer before. Mr. Marsh was with him in 
his last illness and made report of his death to the '• Missionary Herald." Not- 
withstanding his great sin. Kaukauna may well be proud to count him among 
her founders. Not only was he a soldier : if Mr. Pilling is right he was a trans- 
lator as weU. — one who edited what is likely to prove the last book issued in 
the Muh-he-ka-ne-ew dialect. That, like the one published at Stockbridge. Mas- 
sachusetts, in 179.5. is a manual of religious instruction. It contains the shorter 
catechism. Dr. Watts's catechism for children- the first twenty-one verses of the 
third chapter of the gospel of .John, the first twenty of Matthew V. and all of 
Matthew VII. save the last two verses. There are also metrical translations of 
four of the psalms or parts thereof. These, I doubt not, are made from corre- 
sponding English versions by Dr. Watts. The entire compilation closes at the 
bottom of page 34 with the words : The foregoinrj is printed in the Mohea- 
•KUXXUK, or Stockbridge Indian Langxiage. 

Of this book •'the first twenty-five pages," says !Mr. Pilling, ''contain an 
exact reprint of the edition of 179.5; the remainder was probably translated by 
Captain Hendrick, at the suggestion of Rev. John Sergeant who died in 1824. 
The exact date of its publication has not been ascertained: but from the ap- 
pearance of the paper and typography, it would seem to belong to the periofl 
of the removal of the tribe from New Stockbridge. New York, to Indiana in 
1818, and to Wisconsin in 1822. 3Ir. Sergeant wished to have his people well 
supplied with books before their departure. • My people.* he writes, March 30, 
1818. 'can read their own language very fluently, when they pronounce Eng- 
lish verv indifferendy. This will always be the case, so long as they speak 
their own language in their families.' In another letter, dated Deoeml^er 16, 
1821, he says: -I am in hopes to obtain copies of Elliot's Bible in the Indian 
lanoTiage, and am of opinion, that this Bible will be understood by a good part 
of the natives in the N. W. Territory." 

In regard to the booklet with which he connects the name of Captain Hen- 
drick, Mr. Pilling gives, interrogatively. Stockbridge. Ma.<saohusetts, as the 
place, and 1818 as the time, of publication. I doubt that he is quite right in 
his opinion that Hendrick was the translator of the last nine pages. Brainerd, 
while at Kaunaumeek in 1743-44, translated '•' ?,\ynAr\ i>salms" into the lan- 
guage of his people. I find no mention in Mr. Hopkins's ''Historical Memoirs" 
of like service among Mr. Sergeant's varied and abundant labors. But that his 
people. — among whom Mr. Brainerd's little flock came to dwell in 1744, — 

tory. His reports to the society in Scotland are of almost equal value. 
' Or the wife, or ^-idow, of a son. 



STATESBURl} AND STOCKBHIIXJK. V2o 

sang psalms, and in their own language, I have no doubt. The Muh-he-ka-ne-ok 
ai'e now and always have been fond of singing. 

Moi'eover, the Scripture lessons contained in the passages mentioned above 
are doubtless among the very first that Mr. Sergeant employed in the instruc- 
tion of his people. Certainly they are all included in the translations that he 
made. The selection of particular portions would probably be made by his 
son and he, I presume, chose also the versiiied psalms that his people liked best. ^ 

Though for the reasons given, I doubt that Hendrick was the translator of 
any portion of the book of 1818, yet he may have been the editor or reviser 
thereof. Nor would it be fair not to give the statement found in a manuscript 
note in a copy of the booklet; a copy now in the Boston Athenseum, and at one 
time in possession of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, by whom perhaps, said note 
was written: 

••This ti-anslation was made by John Quinney and Captain Hendrick who 
received his commission from General Washington. Little else has ever been 
translated into the Stockbridge language besides this." 

With this it is interesting to compare a statement made by Rev. Cutting 
Marsh in a letter written 1838, August 23i'd.- ''The Stockbridge language 
has never been reduced to a system, and but little has been attempted at trans- 
lations into it. The only translation" — pei-haps Mr. Marsh did not know of 
the book of 1795, perhaps he regarded the two as virtually one — "is a very 
small book (of which I send a copy) containing the assembly's shorter cate- 
chism. Dr. Watts's do. for children, and some small portions of Scripture, and 
three or four select psalms. This book is little used except by the old people, 
because hardly any of them are able to read their own language, although they 
sing the psalms fluently." He does not say by whom the work of translation 
was done. 

Yet, on the 2nd of September, 1832, only six years before he wrote this 
letter, Mr. Marsh made entry in his diary: ''At the evening meeting Deacon 
[Jacob C] Chicks prayed in English, which is not usual for the members of the 
church." Good men pray and bad men swear in the language they learned in 
childhood. 

Whatever part, if any, Hendrick may have had in the making of this 
book, it will always possess peculiar interest for bibliographers of Wisconsin. 

' How any one can sing them seems, judging from their looks, to bo a marvel. But it is a 
pleasure, not simply a matter of curious interest, to hear these harsh-looking verses sung by 
the few Muh-he-ka iie-ok who still are able to use the language of their fathers. I subjoin 
psalm IV. It is written in long meter: 

1 Lord ptou we muh ween worn non null ; 3 Ktennemmaunen Caupohtommun ; 
Hunnaumeweh tnautippaunmeh; Yuhhuh kesunnuhkiyau neh. 
Neyuh quaukhoon kaunwehkommauk. Great (iod! nulikauwthowaukonneh 
Mquaukhetommon mautaunuhkaun. Htauwkkuktammaukaunwaukonnuk. 

2 Thuhkeh aunaukhemoohhiyuh, 4 Neh aunkokhaut neh, neyuh duh, 
Wonk thuhkeh ounaukhtimeyuh ; Nmaukennuh, nkeesquon kawwenauk ; 
Weokchaupo<iuot mauni.saunonneh Kauehetonch, wuhkommauweh, 
Quehiiuwweh nuh duh wonk keyuh. Kukhkhoniiuwwaunmeli kauwyauneli. 

- To George Boyd, then Indian agent at Green Bay. 



12(5 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

It was for the use of a people who became our own, and hither, probably, were 
brought nearly all the copies ever issued. Few of these are left, and the men 
and women who can read the language of Hendrick and Metoxen can, almost 
literally, be numbered on one's fingers. I doubt that it is now the language of 
a single home. 

Even Hendrick himself, it would seem, preferred to write in English. 
" During his residence at New Stockbridge," says Mr. Pilling, '' Captain Hen- 
drick compiled and wrote in English the traditional history of the ' Muh-he-con- 
nuk Nation.' Some fragments of this curious and interesting work have been 
preserved in Dr. Dwight's Travels (New Haven, 1821-22), and in Jones's 
Stockbridge (Springfield, 1854)." 

Of Hendrick's Revolutionary service, Mr. Marsh, in the letter quoted from 
above, gives some particulars. It should be said, however, that the old war- 
rior's name is not to be found in the list of Revolutionary officers at the depart- 
ment of state. Yet President Jefferson, in his qualified attestation of the 
Stockbridge title to part of the Miami grant, ^ calls Hendrick "captain." But 
we turn to Mr. Marsh's narrative : 

"Captain Hendrick, who received a captain's commission from General 
Washington, was actively engaged in various ways during the war. He was in 
the battle when General Burgoyne was taken at [Saratoga]. On one occasion 
General Washington enqiloyed him * * to go and treat with the 

Ottawas who then lived on the Maumee river, in [what is now] Ohio. The 
task was not only difficult but dangerous, yet he executed it with honor and 
satisfaction concerned, although the Indians violated their engagements. Gen- 
eral Washington offered him any assistance which he would ask or number to 
go with him. He replied: 'No, I only want some gold to put in my belt, 
which I wear around me, and one friend whom I shall choose ; ' this, of course, 
was granted. 

"Of his singular adroitness, an instance may be mentioned while on this 
important agency. When he arrived among the Indians he told them of his 
errand. They wished time for consultation, &c. There were three British of- 
ficei's around who were stirring up the Indians to make war upon the frontier 
settlers, and were suspected by Captain Hendrick of using their influence to 
thwart his purposes. The Indians replied : ' You say that you are our friends ; 
we are glad and hope that you are, and, if so, we want you to go with us and 
help destroy these white people (Americans) who live near us and are intruding 
upon our lands, and then we shall know that you are friends indeed.' Captain 
Hendrick replied : ' We are your friends and are willing to help you all we can. 
but the path is very long in which we have come, and our feet are sore ; now if 
you will go and cut oif those troublesome intruders at a distance, we, in the 
meantime, will kill those that are about here (meaning the British officers). 
The next morning not a British officer was to ,be seen, for every one had ab- 

^ See page 107. 



STATESBURO AND STOCKBRIDGE. 127 

sconded during the niglit. After this, Captain Hendiick found no difficulty in 
bringing the Indians to terms and accomplishing his object." 

Evidently it was no ordinary man whose body the men of Statesburg 
buried in a now forgotten grave on that summer day three score and four 
years ago. 

There appears now in Mr. Marsh's narrative a man who thirty years later 
was to be at the head of a short-lived but most famous confederacy. *' Wrote 
[1831. July 25th] to Lieutenant [Jefferson] Davis, Fort Winnebago. Contents 
of the letter : First, the bill of the Bibles &c. Second, urged the importance 
of his inquiring whether he could not do something for the moral renovation of 
the soldiers at the Fort. Love and gratitude to the Savior should induce it im- 
mediately. Although alone, he should not feel [that] a sufficient excuse for 
declining to make an effort. David went alone against his foe and the defier 
of the armies of Israel, but in the name of the Lord of hosts, and he con- 
quered. God has without doubt something for you to do in thus bringing you, 
as you hope, to the knowledge and to the acknowledgment of the truth as it is 
in Jesus. It was but a few years ago wlien Christians began to make the in- 
quiry respecting seamen as a very few do now respecting our military posts, and 
beliold the result ! 

August 5th, Friday. Went to Green Bay. * * Saw swarms 

of flies hopping up out of the water, which appears i like flakes of snow in a 
stormy day. * * Says Mr. Metoxen as we passed along, ' Moo-chau- 

now sh-woon-ah-ah-kon,'^ 'Look like foggy." 

Before closing our narrative for 1831 we turn again almost to its begin- 
ning to observe that, writing under date of January 11th, Mr. Stevens gave the 
number of the tribe as two hundred twenty-five. Thus it is almost certain that 
Mr. Colton's "three hundred flfty" of the preceding summer was an over-esti- 
mate. There were in the church fifteen men, twenty-seven women. It is pleas- 
ant to read in a later communication from Mr. Stevens that " on the last Sab- 
bath in January, 1832, Rev. Richard F. Cadle, superintendent of the Episco- 
pal mission at Green Bay, administered the sacrament." Mr. Cadle's worth 
redeemed the mission that he had in charge from the reproach that the men- 
tlacious Eleazar Williams had brought upon it. In the autumn of 1833 Mr. 
and Mrs. Stevens left Statesburg. Soon they began work among the Sioux, 
and in 1835 established a mission at Lake Harriet, within the present limits of 
Minneapolis. This was part of the beginning of the great work that has 
practically changed the character of the tribe, known from the time of Mar- 
quette as ferocious and dangerous enemies;'^ a work that, begun on the upper 
Mississippi, has place now in Nebraska and the Dakotas by the turbid waters 
of the Missouri. 

We turn again to a report by Mr. Marsh. It was made to the society in 

^ I can not but think tliat Mr. Marsh meant to write " appear." 
^ Perhaps for "kun " 1 slioukl have read "keen." 
^ Aniuny whom the Jesuits establislied no missions. 



128 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Scotland, and bears date 1833, August 1st: "This church was organized in New 
Stoekbvidge, New York, July 24th, 1818, and consisted of eleven members, 
four males and seven females."! The membership when he made report was 
fifty-nine, of whom twenty-four were men or boys, — "males," as he calls them. 
*' Forty-five [of the diurch-members] are married. In twenty-four of these 
families there are family prayers, morning and evening." What Wisconsin 
church of the present day can show, in this respect, as good a record? 

"All get a living by agriculture," says Mr. Marsh, "and some of the njon 
are skilled in the mechanic arts. The women all understand sewing, and some 
of them spinning, weaving, etc. Three have taught school, and one female 
has been engaged for some years in teaching, and a few weeks ago was married 
to a Mohawk Indian from Canada, whom the Methodist Episcopal society sent 
out last year as a missionary to the Oneidas in this region." Mr. Marsh writes 
also of the annual meeting of a temperance society, probably the first in all 
this region. It was organized soon after he came to Statesburg. The newly 
married missionary and his wife are no other, of course, but our friends Rev. 
Daniel Adams and the teacher who was Miss Quinney. 

On the morning of the memoiable 13th of November, 1833, Mr. Marsh 
" was awakened between four and five o'clock by an alarm which a neigld)or, 
part Indian (Mr. G.), had given, that the stars were falling. * * Being 
somewhat frightened, he came to call me, and said that if it kept on they would 
all fall. * * One thing appeared very remarkable, and was that the 

greater part of them appeared from a point near the zenith." 

On tlie 28th of the same month Mr. Marsh makes note of the "annual 
Thanksgiving." This institution his people were doubtless the first to establish 
and honor in what is now Wisconsin. Christmas, too, they observed in a relig- 
ious manner " of their own accord," as we learn from the record made by Mr. 
Marsh in 1832. He held religious service in the morning, and a temperance 
meeting in the afternoon. The " annual fast " also, as forniei-ly kept each 
spring-time in Massachusetts, the people of Statesbui-g remembered and ob- 
served after the manner of the New England Puritans of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. In this they have found no followers, and even the old Bay state lierself is 
seeking to recognize legally the change that has made a time of merriment out 
of the day that was meant to be one of self-tlenial and of worship. Mr. Marsh 
notes that he held a preaching service on the 1st of May, 1834, a day that he 
calls the "annual fast." A few days before this (April 14th), "a number of 
Menomonees, very decently clad and in a very orderly manner, came up to liold 
a council with the Stockbridges respecting putting a stop to the sending of ar- 
dent spirits to their people." Was not this the first temperance convention in 
unnamed Wisconsin ? What a measui-e of eternal condemnation n)en of the 

1 He gives their names and ages: John Metoxen, deacon, tifty-two; Robert Konkapot. 
fifty-six ; .Joseph Quinney, dead ; .Tolm Bennct. absent and standing not good; Esther Tliow- 
husquh, seventy -nine; Margaret Quinney, dead ; Kli/.abetli Bennet, sixty lour; Hannah Kon- 
kapot, fifty -two; Catherine Metoxen, forty-six; Dolly Now-ottokhunwob, (dead ?); Mary Kon- 
kapot, age not given. 



STATESIU'Rd AND STOCKBHIIXiE. 129 

white race have brought upon themselves in dealinor intoxicants to the easily 
tempted Indians I 

The time was drawing near when the Muh-he-ku-ne-ok nnist give up their 
chosen home on the hanks of the Fox. For their improvements *' they received 
a reasonable compensation." wrote Mr. Marsh. The sum paid by the United 
States government. — $25,000, — certainly does not seem to be excessive. We 
may turn back to Mr. McCall's narrative to notice what had been done at the 
time of his visit. Under date of 1830, August 13th, he made entry: "Across 
the river up to the lower end of the rappids of the Grand Kakalin. where the 
Stockbridge tribe settlement begins, unloaded our boat and hired our load carted 
up over land to the head of the rappids and a little above the Mission house, 
and sent our Boat to that place. Hired 5 Xndi^ns, making eight hands. Stop- 
ped at Gardners, an Indian on the bank of the river. There are 7 

islands in this great Rappid which falls about 30 feet. The Stockbridge tribe 
have a saw Mill and are preparing to [build] and [pnt] the frame up for a grist 
mill on one of the branches of the river. 

•'Satterday morning. Rained all the fournoon. Staid and Breakfasted at 
the Mis.sion House." ^ 

No wonder that the Indians were unwilling to leave this favored place 
that they had chosen as their own, and in whose earth they had already hidden 
the bodies of some of their honored dead. In a letter ^ written 1833, October 
14th to the American Board, they had expressed '* much solicitude on the sub- 
ject." ''The effects and conse«[uences of removal will be disastrous," wrote 
Mr. Marsh under date of 1834, February 1st. His Oneida friends had already 
gone, for on the 28th, perhaps of the preceding month, he "went to Duck 
Creek, about twenty miles distant, to visit a band of Oneidas who had lately 
moved there, and who formerly lived near the Stockbridges. Some have lately 
built their houses, and others are now building." Thus what seems to be the 
first Meth,)dist church in unnamed AVisconsin found a new home.^ 

The story of 1834 is continued in a letter by Chauncey Hall, dated July 
2nd, of that year, at Statesburg, but postmarked "'Grand Cakalin." It was 
addressed to Mr. Edmund F. P^ly of the Ojibway mission at Sandy Lake, in 
what is now Minnesota. The postage, eighteen and three-fourths cents, reminds 



• It was on tUt.'ir return tliat tlie comiaissioners " came down to the mission hovise [Auprust 
17th, Tuesday] , and according to appointment when we went up met the chiefs and licad 
men of the st(jckhridg:e Trihe in council; gave tliem our liands, and presented them with a 
sliort written address and a copy of extracts from our instructions as far as rehited to them, 
to prepare their minds against tlieir meeting us in council on Tuesday next. They appeared 
pleased and closed our business for this Time. In the meantime Mrs. Stephens had prepared 
an excellent dinner of which we partook and then started our boat down the rappids. And 
we went on by land to the foot of the rappids, where we joined the boat and returned to the 
Bay about lo o'clock at night." 

^ It was signed by .Jacob Clieekthaukon, John Metoxen. Austin E. Quinney, Thomas T. 
Hendrick, Andrew Miller, Timothy T. .Jourdan, Cornelius S. Charles, .John W. Quinney, Sam- 
uel A. Miller and .losiali W. Miller. 

* It seems to me that Mi'. Marsh's evidence shows conclusively that this wsus virtually, if 
not formally, an orgsuiizeil church more than a year before Mr. Clark came to Green Bay. 



130 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

us that certainly in some things the fovmer days were not better than these. 

''When Rev. Mr. Green ^ was at Mackinaw last sunnner, an arrangement 
was made for my future labors which made it probable that I should in the 
course of the coming fall or early in the spring leave Mackinaw for the place 
from which I am now writing. This station was occupied by the Rev. Mr. 
Marsh and Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. Mr. Stevens and wife Jeft last fall, but it 
was not consistent for me to leave till spring. * * We [himself and 

wife] left Mackinaw on the 21st of May at 2 o'clock p. M., Monday, and ar- 
rived at Green Bay on Wednesday evening. Our passage was in the steam- 
boat Oliver Newbury and, though we were detained by fogs, was very pleasant. 

"We left Green Bay on Friday at 12 o'clock, and proceeded up the Fox 
river. * * We reached the mission house at 3 p. M., had time to 

get our baggage, etc., from the landing (one and one-half miles distant in con- 
sequence of the rapids) and get very comfortably settled before evening. Rev. 
Mr. Marsh gave us a very cordial reception. He had been alone since last 
fall, much of the time without any one to attend to his domestic concerns, and 
he was truly glad to receive fellow-laborers. We found in him what we ex- 
pected, a kind and warm-hearted Christian, much devoted to his work, and en- 
joying to a great degree the love and confidence of the people for whom he la- 
bors. * * The condition of the Indians among whom we dwell 
presents much that is truly encouraging to the missionary, and methinks a view 
of them as they collect together for the worship of God, or talk of His love in 
their dwellings, would make the heart of one destined to labor anmng the un- 
civilized Indians, where no gospel has extended its benign influence, to rejoice 
in view of what the Lord has done, and encourage him to pursue his labors as- 
sured that He who has done so much for these Indians is able also to extend 
the work and will do it through the instrumentality of His children. The 
church among the Stockbridge Indians consists of sixty or seventy members. 
Most of them adorn their profession. Several who had wandered from the path 
of duty have recently returned with apparent penitence, and, as far as I know, 
their lives give evidence that it is sincere. The church is a temperance church, 
agreeing to abstain from the use of all strong drink, not excepting wine, strong 
beer and cider. Most of the tribe are members of a temperance society which 
exerts a salutaiy influence. At their last annual meeting, a few weeks since, 
they resolved to give xip the use of wine, strong beer and cider. (The resolu- 
tion had before existed but in the church.) 

"Perhaps from what I write, you will conclude that we are among a peo- 
ple so civilized that we have nothing to remind us that we are on missionary 
gi'ound. Truly we are among those for whom 'the Lord has done great things.' 
Yet had I time and room I could tell you with all that seems to be cheering 
nuich that would lead you to feel that, if we are not in the midst of heathen- 
ism, we have enough to remind us of heathen wretchedness, enough to call forth 
the compassion of feeling hearts, enough to call forth our unwearied labors and 

* Rev, David Greene, secretary of the American Board, 1828-1832. 



sTATi:sBrR(} AND sT( )( 'kmuiixh:. i;n 

to lead us to ask with sincei-ity for an interest in your j)rayers. 

•'I mentioned the absence of the Rev. Mr. Marsh. He left with five of 
the principal Indians on tlie 12th of June. In the 'Missionary Herald' for 
April, 1834, is a letter from the chief man of the Stockbridge Indians which 
will explain to you the object of this journey. Mucli interest has been and i« 
still manifested by the Indians in the mission to their benighted neighbors. On 
the Sabbath previous to their departure, Mr. John Metoxen, the head chief of 
the tribe, addressed his people at the evening meeting. He was one of the 
delegation, and he reminded his friends in a feeling and dignitied manner, that 
they were soon to be separated : that perhaps this was their last meeting upon 
earth. Then he spoke of tlie contemplated journey to their neighbors west of 
the Mississippi, and he appeared deeply to feel the importance of the errand 
on which they were going. 

'> He said it was the first time their j^eople had undertaken to tell the ' glad 
tidings' to their brethren in darkness. i He expressed liis sense of the bless- 
ings which had been conferred on them through the gospel ; of the preciousness 
of their privileges, and the obligation which rested upon them to improve them, 
as well as to discharge their duty to their wretched brethren. With much feel- 
ing he spoke of the condition of the heathen, and particularly of the Indians, 
while destitute of the gospel. His heart seemed to feel for their wretchedness 
in this life, but the burden of his sorrows seemed to be the hopelessness of their 
condition in the future world while destitute of a saving knowledge of Jesus. 
He assured them of his attachment to home and his desire to return, but ex- 
pressed the most cheerful resignation of the will of his Heavenly Father re- 
specting this. His counsel to his people who were to remain was faithful and 
affectionate, earnestly desiring their prayers for a blessing upon this embassy. 

" The absence of Mr. Marsh and the cliief men takes from the Indians 
those who have been their counselors, and we are not without our fears respect- 
ing the effect, particularly as this will be a season of much temptation, as the 
Indians are to receive their money for their improvements and are much unset- 
tled in consequence of removing. Our hope is that He who has promised that 
• they who water shall be watered ' will watch over us. We have had (theering 
indications that the Lord was with us for two or more weeks past. Christians 
have been evidently revived, and two or three individuals have publicly ex- 
pressed anxiety for the salvation of their souls, and asked for the counsels and 
the prayers of Christians. Our meetings are well attended and our Sunday 
school is interesting. About half the people have moved to tlie new station 
about twenty miles from us and forty from Green Bay, the nearest wliite settle- 
ment. We expect to remove tliere in a few months as well as the remainder 
t)f the people ; have yet to remove the timber and erect a dwelling." 

This missionary journey of Mr. Marsh, Metoxen and others beyond the 
Mississippi was an event of rare interest. The Muh-he-ka-ne-ok were "grand- 

i We wonder if Mr. Metoxen was not misunderstood. The statement, as it stands, is of 
ooiirsv: totally erroneous. 



132 IN UNNAiMEl) WISCONSIN. 

fathers" to the Sacs and Foxes. When the latter, by the injustice of the whites, 
were driven into the war of 1832, the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok exposed themselves to 
some suspicion by refusing to take up arms against them. Theirs was a nobler 
course than that of the miserable Winnebagoes. The Sacs and Foxes sent an 
embassy asking their "grandfathers" not to strike them. Loyal as the Stock- 
bridge tribe was and always has been to the United States, the pledge asked for 
was given and kept.^ The year following the defeat of Black Hawk, 18.33. 
seems to have been, on the part of the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, one of special interest 
in his people. "The Sacs and Fox and Delaware tribes of Indians are our 
friends and relatives, and a delegation from our people intend visiting them 
next season." We have seen how this purpose was carried out. "Can we not 
tell them the great benefits we have received from being taught the gospel?" 
continues the letter. 3 "Can we not tell them that your society is ready to send 
them teachers if they are willing to receive them? Can you not appoint a mis- 
sionary to accompany us? Fathers, if you think there is any way we can do 
good in our visit to our poor brethren beyond the Mississippi, we wish you would 
give us some instructions." 

This letter seems to have found a ready response. A sense of justice 
prompted the offer of a mission to the Sacs and Foxes. Moreover, it was at 
that very time that the foundations were being laid of the wonderful missions 
among the Sioux. For this work, Mr. Stevens, so lately at Statesburg, received, 
in 1834, his commission from the American Board. The summer of the same 
year Thomas Smith Williamson, M. D., spent in " an exploring tour among the 
Indians of the upper Mississippi, with special reference to the Sacs and Foxes." 
It was also an object "to collect what information he could in regard to the Sioux, 
Winnebagoes, and other Indians." He was then in the mission service. 
And now Mr. Marsh tells the story of his summer's pilgrimage :» 
"Set out on the 12th of June (1834). Upon the 14th encamped for the 
Sabbath, having in full view to our right the Big Butte des Morte, which had 
taken its name from the slaughter of an entire Sac village by the French and 
Menominees about one hundred years ago.-* As we pursued our journey we oc- 
casionally .saw lodges of Winnebagoes along upon the banks but no (rorn fields 
or vegetables of any kind which they had growing. Whenever they saw us 
coming they would * * beg as if half starved. Col. Cutler in- 
formed me that * * they were the most indolent, thieving tribe tliat 
he knew of. He had known as many as three or four hundred drunk at one 
time. * * The Cumberland Presbyterians have a mission among 
them near Prairie du Chien. The Catholics are making some effort to prose- 
lyte them and numbers are Catholics at the present time. ^^^ 

» Alexander J. Erwin was comiuissea to raise two or three humlred Onei.las and Stock- 
bridges for the Black Hawk war. This lie failed to do. as the Indians would not go.- state- 
ment of James M. Boyd, "Historical Collections," vol. XII., page 27.S. 

■i The one already referred to -that addressed to the American Board. 1833, October 14th. 

» In a report dated at Stockhridge, 1835, March 2r.tli. 
4 See page 25. 



STATE8BrK(} AND STOCKIUlllXJK. 1:58 

" The second Sabbath, June 22n(l, we passed at a place called the Pine 
Bend on the Wisconsin, about sixty miles from Portage, where was a small set- 
tlement. A few Indians were present and attended religious worship with us. 
We arrived at Prairie du Chien on the 25th and finding that Dr. Williamson 
had left we made no tarry. Saturday evening, the 28th, we arrived at Rock 
Island. Dr. Williamson had left this place also the day previous. 

"Mr. Metoxen liad an interview witli Black Hawk who was returning from 
Rock Island to his village, which Mr. Metoxen had just been to visit. 

"■ Black Hawk went on to tell how kindly he was treated by the white peo- 
ple wherever he went when on his tour. 'In no place,' says he, ' did I see white 
men and wliite squaws drinking together the same as our people do. When I 
passed through your place it was just so, and I want to have my people just 
like those good white people, for I see where they do not <lrink they do better 
ahd live better. Now what do you think is best about receiving missionaries?' 
' • By all means receive them,' I replied,' says Mr. Metoxen, ' for they will do 
you good.' Black Hawk : 'But the trader, Mr. Davenport, told me not to have 
anything to do with them for they would only make you worse.' ^ 

"Our attempt to establish a mission amongst the Sacs and Foxes entirely 
failed of success. 

"I went to visit old Ke-o-kuck's village soon after my arrival. He told 
my interpreter that he knew what I had come for but he wanted to learn noth- 
ing about it. 2 The head chief, called the 'Stabber,' said the same thing to my 
interpreter when I went to his lodge. As they had no previous notice of my 
visit, and inasnmch as their mode of treating the subject was so contrary to the 
rules of Indian etiquette, I do not hesitate to say that they had particular in- 
structions previously. 

"After a few days the Stockbridges met with the 'Stabber,' who is consid- 
ered by the Sacs as the head chief, but not by the white people. They pro- 
posed to the ' Stabber' to make the intended visit to his people.- At first he ob- 
jected, but consented after they had told him that they had provisions of their 
own. They went and stayed about five days, but having no interpreter could 
converse but little with the Sacs and so the latter understood little of the object 
of the visit. Still I had reason to believe, from what I afterwards ascertained, 
that a favorable impression was made on the minds of the Sacs by the visit. 
After this the Stockbridges set their faces towards home. I had gone down 
the river to visit one of the most remote bands upon the river Des Moines. 

" The deportment of the Stbckbridge delegation during the whole tour was 
such as to do honor to themselves and to the cause of missions. Many white 

' Georj^e Davenport, bora in Lincolnshire, England, 17SH, enlisted in the United States 
army in IHO.'i, and served for ten years. With the soldiers who eanie to build Fort Armstrong, 
he landed on Kock island 181(), May lOth. In the autumn of 1835, he became one of the 
founders of the city in Iowa tliat bears his name. 

- Keo-kuk continued to be so much of a heathen that, as already stat«Ml, during? or about 
1840, he liad a squaw put to death lor the alleged reason that she bewitched one of his chil- 
dren. Mr. Civtlin says the nanu' Ke o kuk nteans " the runniiiMT f<>x." 



134 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

people where they went had never seen a civilized or Christian Indian before. 
Often the most singular inquiries would be made, as 'Do they belong to the 
church?' 'Can they speak English?' etc. On their return they were of course 
alone and they came by land part of the way. In the mining country, not far 
from Galena, the Sabbath overtook them and there they stopped until it was 
passed. I returned the same way and heard it remarked by some of the peo- 
ple 'that they sang hymns all Sabbath day.' This seemed not only new but 
strange to those who make no distinction between one day and another when 
traveling. 

" The appearance of John Metoxen, his conversation, etc., were universally 
spoken of with admiration, particularly by Christians. 

''My connection with Dr. Williamson was short. Together we visited Ap- 
penoose's village, one hundred twenty-five miles from the mouth of the Des 
Moines. After Dr. Williamson left to return to his friends in Ohio I was at- 
tacked with dysentery. I returned about one hundred miles down the Des 
Moines river to the house of a trader, Mr. William Phelps, where I was sick 
one week. 

"Mr. Phelps, though a professed infidel in sentiment, still was friendly to 
my object. He declared that if something were not done soon for the Sacs, 
etc., they would all be swept off. He treated me with great hospitality. He 
and a brother of his are trading in opposition to the American Fur Company 
and it rather operates to our advantage than otherwise." 

"A tour by land and water of over 1,300 miles;" ''absence of three 
months and some days," are among Mr. Marsh's comments on his journey. 

"Take the American Fur Company in the aggregate," General Zachary 
Taylor once remarked, "and they are the greatest set of scoundrels the world 
ever knew."^ For their purposes, civilized Indians were of little use. Hence, 
and for other reasons even less creditable, most of the traders opposed such 
missions as proposed to turn the Indians from hunters into farmers. 

But though evil influences thus prevailed among the Sacs and Foxes, effec- 
tive work was begun among the Sioux. Of these, there were at this time some 
within the present limits of Wisconsin, and in 1836 missionary work was under- 
taken for them. We may pardon the short digression that tells tlie story. 

Two men, perhaps from the St. Crishona seminary though more probably 
from the mission training school (both) at beautiful Basel in .Switzerland, where 
the swift Rhine turns northward on its course from the Alps to the sea, came to 
the upper Mississippi region. Amid the mountain-like bluff's near the present 
village of Trempealeau, not far from where Nicholas Perrot spent the winter 
of 1685-6, if not on the very spot, one of *hese men. Rev. Daniel Gavin, with 
an associate, Louis Straum, whom he found at Prairie du Chien, made the first 
modern settlement within the limits of Trempealeau county. His Swiss col- 
league, Rev. Samuel Denton, in the spring of 1835, established a mission where 
is now the village of Red Wing, Minnesota. Rev. Alfred Brunson, who saw 

> " Minnesota Historical Collections." vol. VII., part 2, page 239. 



STATKSIU'IKi AND STOCKIilUlx;!-:. 135 

both these missionaries on his tirst trip up the river above Prairie du Chien 
(1837) thinks that the Red Wing establishment was founded in 1834. Both 
movements were unsuccessful, as was also an attempt by Rev. J. D. Stevens to 
found a mission at Wah-pa-sha's village, now Winona. The chief named was 
hostile to all these missionary efforts, and as they were neither French nor 
Romanist the traders gave them no favor. In 1837 the Sioux transferred to 
the United States government tlie land on which stood the Trempealeau mis- 
sion, and in the following year Mr. Gavin abandoned the field. He then joined 
his colleague who had married Miss Persis Skinner of the Mackinaw mission. 
He himself in 1839 married Miss Lucy C. Stevens, niece of J. D. Stevens, and 
this missionary quaternion found other homes among the Sioux and, in connec- 
tion with missionaries of the American Board, continued labor with them. 

Among the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, the year 1834 was a memorable one not only 
for the westward missionary journey of their pastor and some of their leading 
men, it was the time of their " nation's " third removal within less than fifty 
years. It was also the centennial anniversary of the consent given by the tribe 
to the establishment of a Christian mission among them, and of the first com- 
ing of the elder Sergeant to the people to whom he was to give his life. Per- 
haps these facts were quite forgotten ; I find no allusion to them. 

To the "new station" mentioned by Mr. Hall was given the old name 
Stockbridge. There " a good building for the school and for religious meetings " 
was erected,* principally by the Indians themselves,- and thither the mission es- 
tablishment was removed in the autumn of 1834. By the next year it could 
he said that "numbers of them have cleared and fenced large tracts for them- 
selves, have erected comfortable houses, and are laboring industriously on 
their new lands." Not a bad record for a people who twice, — and some of 
them three times, — within a dozen years had been called upon to battle with 
the difficulties of subduing a wilderness. At Statesburg " they had begun to 
live quite comfortably," says Mr. Marsh, and at Stockbridge " they hoped that 

> It still stands, though at some distance from the site whereon it was built. The old 
structure suggests the fact that, probably more than any other place in Wisconsin, Stock- 
bridge reproduced some of the features of a New England town of the eighteenth century. 
The " meeting-house " was used, not only for religious service but for other public gather- 
ings. This old building, after serving as a Congregational church until 18G9, December 19th, 
became successively a school, a printing office and a blacksmith shop. It has had in it, pro- 
bably, more silver money than has been at one time in any other house of worship in Wiscon- 
sin,— making no exception for Sundays when special collections have been taken for mis- 
sions, either home or foreign! At one payment (1849, probably) the Indians received therein 
eighty thousand or more silver half-dollars. The use of the same building for purpo.ses both 
of church and state,— merely different aspects of the same Christian commonwealth,— was 
judged right by the Puritan, and did not imply any unbecoming use of the house wlierein he 
worshiped God. He had little use for the term "secular " in its present meaning. It is pro- 
bablti that the tribal meetings of the Stockbridges, like the town meetings of the olden time 
and some of the present, in New England, were opened with prayer. 

Two tithing-men or " beadles." to use Mr. Colton's term, were chosen at the annua;i church 
meeting to keep good order during servicf^ We may suppose that this included the prevtin- 
tion of "gazing about, sleeping, smiling and all other indecent behavior,"— the words on this 
subject of the Presbyterian "Directory for Worship." 

^ Report at the anniuil meeting of the Anu^-ic-an Board, September, IH.Sii. 



13« IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

they had found a place where they might long enjoy peace and a permanent 
resting-place." 

Mr. Hall, who, by reason of the financial straits of the American Board, 
was compelled to leave the Stockbridge mission in the .autumn of 1838, bore 
at a later time this fine testimony to the virtues of the people among whom 
he made his home for more than four years : 

" I have been well acquainted with the early settlements of the whites in 
Wisconsin and Illinois, yet never knew a people who in their early settlement 
manifested so much attachment to the ministrations of religion. It has never 
been our privilege to dwell with a people so distinguished for this, and so moral. 
The Sabbath was universally kept sacred ; meetings on that and other days were 
well attended; intoxicating drinks were prohibited from being brought upon 
their lands; the women had started meetings for prayer, besides the maternal 
association and a meeting for improvement in sewing, &c. Fast and Thanks- 
giving days were always observed as in New England. The men lived upon 
their farms, and regarded hunting and fishing as uncertain employment. A 
church member who sought direction from his Bible once said to me, ' I thought 
about going a-hunting ; I thought of Esau ; may be I come home hungry.' The 
rifle was laid up, and he went to his field." 

But scarcely were the Stockbridges settled in their new homes when an- 
other removal was proposed. "Even now," says the annual report to the Board 
for 1836, "when the Indians have hardly put up their houses and cleared and 
enclosed their fields, the proposal has been made to take them from their homes 
again, and transport them to a country west of the Mississippi river. Their 
minds are beginning to be agitated on the subject. The perplexity and discour- 
agement to which the missionaries are subjected from this source are very great ; 
but not to be compared with the disheartening and deteriorating influence ex- 
erted on the Indians by being so often obliged to abandon the houses and fields 
which they were just beginning to enjoy, and to jn-epare for themselves other 
homes of which they may be despoiled as soon." Of their condition otherwise 
at that time the narrative adds, "Temperance, industry and attention to relig- 
ious instruction, have been more general than for the preceding two or three 
years. Tem})tations have beset the people from the white settlers who are 
crowding in around them. Some painful cases of defection have occurred. 
Others have resisted temptation so as to excite the admiration of unprincipled 
men. " 

Whatever may have been the origin of this proposed removal beyond the 
Mississippi, some of the Indians themselves heartily favored it. Hence, and 
doubtless for other reasons also, a division arose among them. Their pastor op- 
posed removal. To Agent Boyd he thus wrote under date of 1838, August 

23rd : 

"The Stockbridge, or Muh-hee-kun-neew Indians (i. e.. River Nation, or 
skilled in going over the waves), i have so long resided in the vicinity of the 

* I doubt not that this is an erroneous translation. However, I find the following in Cat- 



STATESBUIUJ AND STOCKHUllKJi:. 187 

white people, and have so long since abandoned most of their Indian habits and 
customs, that little can be said of them that is peculiar to Indians. All now 
subsist by cultivating their lands and, if properly encouraged, and if they can 
remain j)ermanently on their present reservation, [they] will, in a few years, 
have good farms cleared up, and live as comfortably as their white neighbors." 

But some did not wish to remain " on their present reservation," and 1839, 
September 3rd. there was made a treaty " by which these two townships were 
split in two north and south, and the east half was receded to the United States, 
the west half of each of the two townships remaining as a reservation." Hav- 
ing received, doubtless, their share of the proceeds of this sale, a party of be- 
tween fifty and sixty removed to what is now Kansas. Their ultimate destina- 
tion was, I suppose, the proposed Osage river reservation ^ but "'they were al- 
lowed to settled temporarily upon the lands of the Delaware Indians five miles 
below Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri." 2 

This removal seems to have rid our Wisconsin Stockbridge of a disturb- 
ing element. But there speedily rose a new cause of dissension, — the pro- 
posal to follow the example of the Brothertowns and become citizens of the 
United States. It seems to have been some time, however, before this became 
a cause of bitterness. 

Meanwhile tribal authority continued to be exercised in full vigor. On 
the 17th of February, 1840, Mr. Marsh heard of the murder of Peter Sher- 
man by Isaac Littleman. With a promptness that puts to shame the courts of 
the present day, the trial, — ^ which was by "the nation," — was concluded on Sat- 
urday, the 22nd of the same month. March 13th, the murderer was hanged. 
" If it can be so ordered," wrote Mr. Marsh, " I desire never to witness another 
execution." "The sheriff," of whom he speaks, was an Indian, Peter Little- 
man, who is said to have been a cousin of the murderer. Among the Wiscon- 
sin Oneidas there have been two cases of capital punishment by tribal authority. 

In 1840 what is now Calumet county "contained about two hundred 
thirty Stockbridge, and about three hundred Brothertown Indians, and only 
about three whites,"-* — if, among whites, men alone are to be counted. A 
civil organization of Calumet county was, nominally at least, both effected and 
dissolved that year (January 6th and August 6th, respectively). 

Three years later Mr. Marsh was able to give this hopeful statement of 
the condition of his people:"* 

lin's "North American Indians" (London edition): " Mo hee-con-neuks, or Mohegans (the 
good canoemen)." But I do not trust Mr. Catlin'stranshitions. Tlius J. W. Quinney's Indian 
name, which our aut)ior spells Waun-naw con, he translates as " the dish," tlie true Moliegau 
tor which is " VVaun dath " (a in dath, as in the English word artii). Mr. Catlin gives portraits 
of both the Quinneys Austin E. is said to be " very shrewd and intelligent man, a professed 
and, I think, a sincere Christian." Mistakenly he calls ,1. W. Quinney *' a Baptist missionary 
preacher," and adds that he is " a very plausible and elotiuent speaker." 

> See pag(! <!1. The leaders of this party were Thomas Hendrick and Robert Konkapot. 

2 Miss Jones's " History of Stockbridge." 

* Thomas (Jomnmck. The three whites were a tavern-keeper named Westfall, Rev. Cut- 
ting Marsh and Moody Mann, a millwright, afterward county judg((. 

4 In a letter to "Julius P. B. McCabe, Green Bay, ' written 184.H, January .3rd. 



138 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

" Although the evils of intemperance are far from being banished from the 
nation, still the good accomplished can never be estimated in this world in the 
marked improvement of the health, habits and morals of the people. It is an 
interesting fact that there is not half the sickness and but about half the num- 
ber of deaths now in the nation that there were twelve years ago; while the num- 
ber of births, which, at that time, was only about equal to the number of deaths, 
for two years past has been just double the number of deaths. 

"There is also a Congregational church which numbers fifty-five members 
in regular standing; there is a Sunday-school also which is attended by both 
young and old. 

" The situation of the Reservation on the east side of Winnebago lake is 
delightful, and well suited, in every respect, to agricultural purposes. It is well 
watered by numerous springs which come out of the limestone ledges. 

"Schools have been taught in the nation a greater part of the time since 
they I'emoved to this country, and they were for a number of years aided by 
the funds of the American Board in svistainiiig them until the pecuniary embar- 
rassments commenced, and since then none has been afforded. 

" For two or three years past their schools have greatly languished for the 
want of funds to support them in consequence of the officers of the general 
governnaent withholding the money due under the treaty of September 3rd, 
,1839, for reasons which they do not see fit to give, and which are inexplicable 
to the Indians." 

Mr. Marsh speaks of "schools." One was a continuance of that begun at 
Statesburg. Of the second, Mr. Marsh wrote 1838, August 23rd: ^ "Another 
school, it is expected, will go into ojjeration as soon as a house which they [the 
Indians] have commenced can be completed. The children are taught reading, 
spelling, writing, ai'ithmetic, geography, English grammar and composition. 
Latterly, one half day in each week has been appropriated to teaching the small 
girls to sew. Our school has been kept up the year round excepting vacation 
at the close of quarters, or in the spring when the traveling is very bad, and 
during the short season in harvest time when the parents want their children at 
home. , , 

,",In, general the children appear quite ^s tractable and make as good pro- 
ficiency in their studies, according to their advantages, as the children of white 
people. 

"A majority of the people can speak and read the Englisli language intel- 
ligibly, and many fluently, and the use of English in giving instruction and in 
common conversation in becoming more and more in vogue and soon, I hope, 
all interpretation will be superseded." This, we remend)er, was in 1838. 

" As the Indians have taken their schools under their own direction," says 
the annual report of the American Board for 1840-41, "Mr. Marsh has for- 
warded no account of them during the year." 

As nearly as I can determine, the Stockbridge tribe has had in this region 

' In liis letter to Agt'iit Boyd. 



STATESBUR(J AND ST( M'KHRI 1)( JE. 139 

west of Lake Michigan no happier years than those from 1835 to 1842, inchisive. 

On the 3rd of March, 1843, an act was approved making the Muh-lie-ka- 
ne-ok citizens of the United .States. This measure was strongly ojjjjosed 
by what seems to have been the better portion of the "nation," — Metoxen, the 
Quinneys, Samuel Miller and others. Henceforth the story is one chiefly of 
strife and conflict within the tribe itself. Thus of a council held 1843, March 
24th, at Mr. Metoxen's, there is this record in Mr. Marsh's diary: "Accom- 
plished nothing, on account of the objections made by the citizen party to my 
assisting." Somewhat more than a year afterward (1844, April 13th), J. N. 
Chicks, a leader of that party, "came before the church [in answer to a sum- 
mons], but it was to read a paper of a slanderous character which he had drawn 
up against myself. "^ 

If the impression I have received from living witnesses is the correct one, 
Mr. Marsh sought to avoid identifying himself with either party. He had prob- 
ably looked forward to American citizenship as the ultimate condition of the 
Muh-he-kane-ok, and he may at first huve favored the Congressional act of 
1843 in regard to his peojile. But if he did, he doubtless came soon to see 
that the measure was j)remature and so unwise. I doubt that tlie o})position 
scheme of the tribal party, — "to reiliove forthwith to some region beyond 
the Mississippi,"^ — met his approval. It is almost certain that much that was 
said and done by men of both parties was to him a source of great mortifica- 
tion and grief. In the report at the anuual meeting of the American Board in 
1844, it is said : " Such has been the state of the church that the missionary 
'has not felt at liberty to administer tlie Lord's supper during the year." It 
seems, however, that both parties continued to attend church. 

I come now to paragraphs that I wish I did not feel called upon the write. 
That I may be just, I will give certain statements from " Thirty Years in the 
Itineracy," by the late Wesson Gage Miller, D. D., a very worthy and a very 
useful man, I have no doubt. He is speaking of the beginnings of his minis- 
terial service in Wisconsin. " But we had hardly got our home work [at Broth- 
ertown] fully in hand, when there came an invitation from Stockbridge, several 
miles below, to extend our labors into that settlement. There had been a 
Congregational mission among the Stockbridge nation for many years, but its 
condition was not very promising. * * [It] was now in charge of 

Dr. Marsh, a gentleman of education and ability. He divided his time, how- 
ever, between the ministerial and medical professions, and, as a result, the spirit- 
ual interests nec-essarily languished." 

It was not brotherly of Mr. Miller thus to write. We have seen sufficient 
reason why "spiritual interests languislied" among the Stockbridges. These 
interests were destined to "languish," yet more, and his own work, I have no 

* Though the offender^— for such he seems to have been,— was excluded from the church, 
these men seem to have become reconciled, for 1848, June 10th, Mr. Marsh "attended tlic 
funeral of an infant child of J. N. Chicks." 

2 Letter of 1844, May 1st, signed by Austin E. Quinney, John Metoxen and J. W. Quinney, 
and addres.sed to " his excellency Governor Doty, superiiiUMident of Indian alfairs." 



140 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

doubt, contributed to this result. Mr. Marsh's attendance upon the sick was 
merely incidental to his missionary work. This Mr. Miller should have said or 
been silent. There is for him this measure of excuse, that with a warm and, I 
doubt not, a good heart, he had but a boyish and biased judgment. In 1845, 
probably April, he began a series of meetings in Mr. Chicks's barn. Mr. Mil- 
ler "gushes" to a surprising extent over this man whom he calls the "head 
chief of the Stockbridge nation." ^ This could not have been the case, for 
Chicks was a leader of the "citizens' party" in whose view, — and indeed, ac- 
cording to the then unrepealed statute of 1843, — there was no Stockbridge na- 
tion. In regard to this matter, Mr. Miller seems to have been, in his mature 
years, as uncritical in his writing as in his youth he was inconsiderate in his 
action. 

No doubt this unhappy religious movement increased the division that was 
not healed by the repeal 1846, August 6th, of the act that had made the .Stock- 
bridges citizens. The tribal organization, which its supporters had not permit- 
ted to lapse, was able to resume at least a limited degree of authority. But it 
could not rule the white men who had bought homes on the reservation, and 
who soon came to out-number the Indians. There was the old and easy and 
ruinous remedy, — sale and removal. Whatever lands had not been allotted in 
severalty were sold by the tribe to the United States government by a treaty 
made 1848, November 24th. 

But a little time before, Mr. Marsh, their constant friend and faithful pas- 
tor, had been constrained to leave them. One of the tribe, Jeremiah Slinger- 
land, seems to have taken up the work for so much of the time as he spent 
among his people. 

The faithful memory of one still among the living has preserved for us a 
picture of the condition of the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok just before this time of hurt- 
ful change. Nearly all the homes of the people were of logs, but there were a 
few frame houses. For years Mrs. Marsh had been a teacher of good house- 
keeping to the women and many followed, at least in some measure, her ex- 
ample. But there was a considerable number who did not properly guard 
against dirt and vermin. Naturally there were sneers for those who tried to 
fashion their apparel after the manners of the whites. The women of the pro- 
gressive party wore at church and other public places beaver hats shaped some- 
what like the silk hats so commonly worn by gentlemen. The other women 
wore neither hat nor bonnet. Men and women alike, to the number oi perhaps 

1 lam much afraid that even in his "conversion, " — real or pretended,— at this time. 
Chicks acted tlie part of a deceiver. Mr. Miller reports him as saying " Me &i-eat sinner." I 
don't doubt the entire truthfulness of this statement but I don't believe that he needed to 
say it in broken English. He had been at school anionj? the whites, probably at the Oneida 
Institute, New York, and almost certainly at Hanover, New Hampshire, where he was, 1 liave 
reason to l)elieve, enrolled as a student either in Dartmouth college or in Moor's "Charity 
school " (see pages (57 and 08). What he acquired among the whites was, apparently, chiefly 
an iinlitness for the conditions of life then existing among his own people. Had he never re- 
turned to them it would doubtless have been a blessing for both. He was one of the factors 
in bringing about the removal of the Indians from .Stockbridge,— an injury from which the 
tribe can never recover,— and he himscdf died a drunkard. 



STATESRURG AND STOrKRRIDGE. 141 

half or more of the tribe, wore ''blankets." These were commonly of blue 
broadcloth, and were worn in public. The men all wore pantaloons and shirts. 
But the order in which were worn the parts of these garments that are next to 
each other does not accord with our ideas of proj)riety. The want of suspend- 
ers was manifest by the constant "hitching" needed to keep the pantaloons in 
place. The women did most of the work, even of that in the field. Yet there 
were men who had accepted enougli of Christian teaching to know that this 
kind of work was especially their duty and to act accoi'dingly. Some of the 
families lived at a considerable distance from the school l)ut all the children re- 
ceived therein more or less training. Nearly all the tribe attended church. 
Their Sabbath, as in former years, began at sunset on Saturday evening. Mrs. 
Benson remembers a peeled stick used to keep order and secure wakefulness in 
church. There must then still have been a '"tithing-man." So many of the 
tribe understood the language of their fathers that Mr. Slingerland occasionally 
j)reached in it. This Mr. Marsh did not think necessary. Some of the young 
men had been educated in Eastern colleges. These, with the possible exception 
of Mr. Slingerland, did no credit to their training. They married half-civilized 
women and lapsetl into something worse than their former mode of life. Mrs. 
Benson's work among this people, like that of Mr. Marsh, came to an end in 
1848. Then the American Board gave up its mission. This seenis now and is 
judged by Mrs. Benson to have been a serious mistake. 

By the ti'eaty of 1848, " the Stockbridges belonging to the tribal organiza- 
tion stipulated to remove west of the Mississippi, i It was proposed to form a 
reservation for them on the Crow river, Minnesota, "but the removal of the 
Indians was delayed by the Government['s] not succeeding, until 1852, in pur- 
chasing lands from the Sioux." ' Then the Stockbridges refused to go, and soon 
the Crow river lands were occupied by white squatters. 

Preliminary, perhaps, to tbis proposed removal what seems to have been a 
<'ensus of the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok was taken in May, 1851. The total enumera- 
tion was two hundred thirty-five, of whom twenty-five or thirty were in the 
Kansas region. ^ 

Of the condition in which the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok were living in the spring 
of 1852. we have these recollections from Mrs. Mary A. Niles, a grand-daugh- 
ter of John Sergeant, the younger : 

•' We found the Indians living very comfortably, in very good houses, New- 
England fashion, on one long street. One of them invited us to dinner and 
served us very handsomely on a table, set according to our own ideas, with blue 
china, and every thing neat and nice. The Indian woman waited and served us 
very handsomely." 

But soon the In(\ians seem to have drifted into the sadly demoralizing con- 
dition of living on the })roceeds of the sale of their lands rather than upon the 

' House Mis. Doc, No. 14, Forty sixth Congress, Tiiird session. 

■^ Most of tliose wlio reinuv(!(i thither died witiiin a few years or returned to Wisconsin 
.See also note 1, page tU. 



142 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

products of their labor. Presumably a town government was set up soon after 
the enactment of 1843. Between this and tribal authority somewhat of conflict 
was inevitable. There came to be three times as many whites as Indians upon 
the old Stockbridge reservation. Again the camel drove the Arab from the 
tent,i and on the 5th of February, 1856, a treaty ^ was made assigning to the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok two townships of land in Wisconsin, ''near the southern boun- 
dary of the Menomonee reservation." The land that from promises made them 
they had a right to expect is that lying on and near the southern shore of Lake 
Shawano. But this was too good to set apart for Indians, — though the Lake 
Winnebago reservation which the Stockbridges had given up is one of the finest 
regions in Wisconsin, — and so the tract assigned them consists of land inferior 
both in quality and location. However, it contains a small lake, and through 
it, over a bed of red granite, and broken at places into rapids, courses the Red 
river, a tributary of the Wolf. 

Following the course of these streams and of the Fox. or going over the 
horrible roads of that time, the wronged tribe sought its new home. Removal 
began in 1856. Some went in October. I have been told that most of the 
tribe made the change in 1857. The last to rernove "came two years after the 
treaty was made."^ Some Indians from New York,^ — about eighty in all, I 
have been told, — joined the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok at the time of this last removal. 

1 In spite of the efforts of the Indians to have the township on Lake Winnebago restored 
to them. By a treaty agreed to 1865, June 1st, by the commissioner of the United States gen- 
eral land-office and signed by the Indians " almost unanimously " it was provided that such 
•restoration should take place. But Francis Huebschmann, then Indian superintendent, 
recommended that this treaty be not submitted to the Senate for ratification. His advice was 
followed, and the Indians lost their home. 

It may be added that in 1854 Samuel Miller was a member of the " Presbyterian and Con- 
gregational Convention of Wisconsin." He presented the case of his people, and the Conven- 
tion appointed a committee to " memorialize the proper department of the government, in 
our name, in behalf of the Stockbridge tribe, setting forth their grievances, and petitioning 
for the restoration to them of their lands." How nearly successful this movement was, has 
just been stated. 

2 'jiie Muh-lie-ka-ne-ok have suffered no greater wrong than this treaty of 1850. I have 
little doubt that Dr. Huebschmann acted most arrogantly and unjustly in procuring thereto 
tlie alleged consent of the Indians. He assumed authority to depose the tribal cliief, Austin 
E. Quinney, and the councilors who served with him. To fill the places thus made vacant, 
Huebschmann ordered a special election. The favor of tlie "citizens' party,"— and, it is al- 
leged, of others wlio were not, and never had been, of the Stockbridge-Munsee "nation,"— 
was secured by allowing them to vote and promising them equal shares in whatever was due 
the tribe or miglit be given to it. Perhaps other means even less creditable were employed. 
The sachem thus elected,— Ziba T. Peters,— and the new councilors, were of course favorable 
to the proposed treaty, which all of both parties were invited to sign. This Austin E. Quin- 
ney and others of the Indian party,— in all, perhaps, a majority of the true "nation," as dis- 
tinct from the "citizens," refused to do. But, counting both parties, Huebschmann probably 
secured a majority. This done, his supporters found that they were his dupes. For it was 
not " nominated in the bond " that the tract they expected was the one tliey should got. 
Huebschmann saw to it that the white man was to have the turkey and the Indian might 
take the owl. Slingerland, Chicks and their ilk found a trickery and cunning that more than 
matched their own. 

^ Mrs. Sarah Irene (Seymour) Slingerland. For thirty years she was associated with her 
husband in teaching the government school aniong the Stockbridges. She won a measure of 
esteem that was given to her husband only by those who did not know him well. It is due, 
however, to both to say that the wife,— a white woman,— had full confidence in her husband 
and the highest regard for him. Mrs. Slingerland died 18!)2, August 15th. 

4 Representativf! Mnnsees from that state were allowed to sign the treaty of 185(>. 



I 



STATESlUTR(i AND STOCKIUUDGE. U3 

But, as in Massachusetts and New York some of their own number remained 
in the old home. 

Among these was Austin K. Quinney. He indeed made a brief sojourn 
at the Red river settlement but returned to Stockbridge, where he died 1864, 
August 17th. 1 We are glad that of the other two leaders in the Wisconsin- 
ward migration of their peoi)le neither was called upon to leave the home to 
which they had led their people. John W. Quinney died at Stockbridge, 1855, 
July 21st. There was reason at that time to entertain the hope that the Lake 
Winnebago reservation might be restored to the Stockbridges. This project is 
said to have been his own.^ Upon a marble slab, in the old Indian cemetery 
near Stockbridge, is the legend, " John Metoxen, died April 8th, 1858, aged 87 
years." We have a right to claim as our own this son of Massachusetts. Let 
his name stand first in the list of Wisconsin's honored laymen. Aside from 
Dr. Morse, he was probably the first to hold public worship on Wisconsin soil 
according to the simple rites of the Puritan. And he was the first, after the 
departure of the early French Jesuits (who are so much overpi-aised and whose 
work is so much overvalued by sentimentalists and sectarians) to maintain here 
regularly the public worship of Almighty God. 

Almost immediately after removal the tribe adopted a new constitution. ^ 
This superseded one drawn up by J. W. Quinney in 1833. Probably the two 
were much alike. I undei-stand that the constitution adopted in 1857 has since 
been laid aside and another adopted. The name first given to the new reser- 
vation was "Moh-he-con-nuck," an historic designation and one worth keeping. 
But the place, — there is neither village nor post-otfice,^ — seems now to be called 
"Red Springs." The central part of the reservation where is the poor old 
chui'ch-building, the manse and the cemetery bears the name "Stockbridge." 

By act of 1871, February 6th, three-fourths of the "Red Springs" reser- 
vation was sold and, it would seem, all of the pine that was fit for lumber. 
Also under this act citizenship was bestowed upon a number of the tribe who 
desired it. These form the "new citizens' party," and have gone forth from 
the reservation. At least a semblance of tribal organization is still kept up by 
the "Indian party" between which and what is left of the "old citizens' party" 
the chronic quarrel still continues. 

Again the deaths among these people out-number the births. The logging 
camps where most of the young men of both the Stockbridge and Menomonee 
tribes spend the long winters and the delayed springs of northern Wisconsin 
are poor schools for the development of right character, or even for training in 
habits of steady industry. The white neighbors of these people are, for the 
most part, not of a sort to teach needed lessons of temperance. The frequent 
removals of the Indians, and the practical socialism in which they are living, 
have made it impossible for a man to feel sure that if he made a good home he 

' He was born 1700, January 1st, and served in the war of 1812. 
^ See "Wisconsin Historical Collections," volume IV., pajfo 310. 
^ See " Mull he-ka-ne-ok," paKe 48. 



144 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

could leave it to his children. Indeed, there are on the reservation farms that 
in equity ought to belong to the children of the men who cleared and improved 
them, but that are now in possession of intruders. Men who have no right to 
any share in tribal property crowd in upon the reservation or claim tribal rela- 
tionship so as to get, if possible, a share of the common property when the di- 
vision, believed to be not far off, shall be made. Indeed the question now at 
issue is not so much, Shall this be done ? as it is, Who are entitled to share the 
proceeds ? As a socialistic experiment we have here a most wretched failure. 
.-Nearly all the people on the reservation are j>oor and dispirited. They do not 
use to advanlage even the few opportunitie'* they have. And the most serious 
effect is Ihat made upon habits and character. 

Most painfully is manifest the lack of effective pastoral oversight. • Mr. 
Miller's work was short-lived and better adapted to the inclinations than to the 
needs of this somewhat fickle-minded j)eople. It was doubtless a factor, though 
probably a minor one, in bringing about the removal of Rev. Cutting Marsh 
from the position that long experience liad enabled him to fill so well. It may 
be said now, — for both men are in their graves, — that Mr. Marsh had no confi- 
dence in his successor or, rather, supplanter. Jeremiah Slingerland. He had been, 
it is said, somewhat of a ladies' pet both at Dartmouth and Bangor. 2 By Wil- 
liam Parsons, "United States special Indian agent," he is described as ''a spec- 
ulative and dishonest Stockbridge Indian." However, Mr. Parsons's report ^ is 
one of great, though I dare not say undeserved, severity, — a severity that 
spares neither white man nor Indian. Even of certain men high in political 
standing he writes as if he believed that they would take and keep what did 
not honestly belong to them ! 

To influences proceeding from an unfavorable location ; from a soil that 
offers the agriculturist but a poor reward; from a debasing environment; from 
a practical socialism, — and even that iU-organized ; from hateful disputes 
thence and otherwise arising; from unwise abandonment of missionary work; 
from a mistaken sectarianism ; from unworthy leaders ; from grasping white 
men in high positions and low; and from the ever-present evil of drunkenness; 
— to all these influences there has been opposed no adequate resistant. The 



» No church was organized preliminary to removal, as was done in 178r> and 1818. Nor 
did the emigrants follow the example set by their fathers at the time of the removal from 
Stateshurgand take with them the old organization. Mr. Hlingerland hecame a local preacher 
in the Methodist Episcopal body, and, later, joined the Presbyterians. A church of that order 
was organized 1867, September 18th, and still exists. It has been mistakenly put under the 
care of the Home Mission board. But churches of the Indians and of other weak races need, 
for their proper oversight and care, an organization specially adapted to just that kind of 
work — such, for example, as the American Missionary Association. 

There is now no resident pastor on the reservation. Rev. Jacob Van Rensselaer Hughes, of 
Shawano, does what he can, in feeble health and limited time, for this otherwise pastorless 
people. 

^ "Jeremiah Slingerland, (Indian), Moor's Charity School, Hanover, New Hampshire; In- 
dian teacher, [Lake] Winnebago and Green Bay, Wisconsin; died 1884, June 4th, Neshina, 
Wisconsin." The foregoing is from the general catalogue of Bangor seminary, "class of 1845." 
For "Neshina" we are tt) read "Keshena," and we should notice the fact that Mr. Slinger- 
land did not teach at Green Bay, hut on the present Sttx^kbridge reservation. 

••* Dated 1888, .lanuary Itlth. 



STATESBURG AND STOCKBRIDGE. 145 

mission among the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok was not a failure, but the want of one has 
been a failure most unmistakably. 

In the old days of the Hebrew commonwealth a woman who in giving life 
lay dying named her son Ichabod, saying, "The glory is departed." Thus it is 
with the people whose ancestry made so noble a history, the greater and better 
part of which seems, even by their descendants, to be forgotten. But the great 
state that the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok helped to found has reason to remember with 
honor and gratitu«le the spiritual children of John Sergeant and Jonathan Ed- 
wards. The mighty impulse that these men gave their people reached us in the 
making here of Christian homes, in the founding of churches^ and other relig- 
ious institutions that still abide, ^ in the establishment of schools, in a valiant 
struggle in behalf of temperance, in prohibitory legislation as regards intoxi- 
cants, in anti-slavery sentiment and in continued loyalty to the United States 
government. 

During the late war the Stockbridges furnished thirty-eight volunteers for 
the Union army, more than one-tenth of the entire tribe. ^ Not one deserted. 
But their losses were heavy, especially by disease. Far from home, no doubt, 
most of those who died in the service had burial. And in the little cemetery 
on the reservation there are nine soldiers' graves. 

The people who, for us and for our fathers, gave these men and their kin- 
dred of former generations to the silence of death, have made their distinctive 
history. Let it not be unread nor unheeded. For though it has much that is 
to their shame, and more that is to ours, the story of the nation named for "the 
waters that are never still" is one that makes for righteousness. 

^ At Stockbridge (Wisconsin), they received whites to the membership of their church, 
which thus lived on, was re-orgranized in 18G0, and continues at the present time its unbro- 
ken life and uninterrupted service. The whites who formed the (so-called) Presliyterian 
churcli of Green Bay, the First Presbyterian (now Inmianuel) of Milwaukee, a church amou)^ 
the soldiers at Fort Winnebagro, and one long since extinct at t'alumetville, sent to Stock- 
bridge for the help of the pastor there in the work of organization. The Indians aided in the 
support of Rev. O. P. Clinton wlien he was doing his early and effective missionary service in 
the region aliout Lake Winnebago. 

^ Somewhat of their direct relation to the establislunent of missions in the region west of 
the upper Mississippi, we have already learned. Their church was the first, not of the num- 
ber th.at formed the organization, to join the Presbyterian and Congregational Convention of 
Wisconsin. It was receive<l at a meeting held, by conmiission, at Green Bay 1841, January 
2nd. John Metoxen was the delegate of the church, which, when local conventions were or- 
ganized became successively a member of those bearing the names of Milwaukee, Beloit, 
Madison and Wiiniebago. The Madison Convention, Austin E. Quinney helped to organize. 

Nor should it be forgotten tiiat in the early time of few settlements and of long journeys, 
many a weary traveler found shelter at Stockbridge. 

^ Report of the conunissiuiier of Indian affairs, 18t>4. 



CHAPTEP^XI. 



AMONG THE OJIBWAVS. 

Notwithstanding the flight of the Hiirons and the Ottawas from Chequani- 
egon bay in 1671^ the Sioux (Dakotas) did not become masters there. The 
sti'ong and determined enemies of that tribe, the Ojibways, either had not then 
arrived or could not be displaced. These, according to their own tradition, 
"first reached Point Sha-ga-waum-ik-ong " about 1490. There '"for many years 
they concentrated their numbers in one village. They were surrounded by 
fierce and inveterate enemies whom they denominated the 0-dug-aum-eeg (op- 
posite-side people, best known at this day as the Foxes), and the A-boin-ug (or 
roasters), by which significant name they have ever known the powerful tribe 
of the Dakotas."^ 

Pressed by these enemies, the Ojibways removed to the adjacent island of 
Mon-ing-wun-a-kaun-ing (the place of the golden-breasted woodpecker), now 
called Madelaine. But through some superstitious fears increased if not caused 
by their magicians, commonly called ''medicine men," who in many respects 
correspond to our " spirit mediums." this place was afterward so utterly aban- 
doned that an Ojibway would scarcely venture to set foot upon it. 

From this legendary history which almost certainly errs in assigning to the 
Ojibway occupancy of Chequamegon bay too early a beginning, but otherwise 

^ See page 13. 

- The meaning of their own tribal name is suggestive : '' To roast till puckered up " : from 
'"o-jib," "puckered up; " and "ab-way," "to roast." Both names, Ojibway and Aboinug, pro- 
bably originated from the practice of putting. captives to death by torture with tire. 

Another name Saulteaux or .Sauteurs "the people of the falls," properly used only of the 
part that remained at Sault Ste. Marie, is used sometimes apparently of the whole tribe. 

" Chiiipewa" the Gallicized form of "Ojibway," or as Schoolcraft writes it "Odjibwa,"is 
familiar to all. 

William Whipple Warren, already named, to whom we are indebted for most of tli'ese 
statements concerning the Ojibways, states that the present tribal name has been in use "cer- 
tainly not movii than three centuries, and in all probability much less. It is only in this term 
of time that they have been disconnected as a distinct or separate tribe from the Ottaways 
an<l Potta -wat-umies. The name by wliicli they were known when incorporated In one body 
is at the present day uncertain. Tlie tiiuil separation of these tiiree tribes took place at the 
straits of Midiiliinackinac from natural causes." 

From these straits " the Potta-wat-um ies moyed up Lake Michigan and by taking with 
them, or for a tinu>. perpetuating, the national Are, which, according to tradition, was sacrcid- 
ly kept alive in their more primitive days, they have obtained the nam,; of ' those who make 
or keep the tire,' wliich is tlie literal meaning of their tribal cognomen." 

Those who remained eastward of both divisions of their kindred came first in contact 
with the French and thus, as tlunr name signifies, became "Ottawas:" that is, "traders." 



.\.\i().\(; rni': ojihw ays. ut 

seems to be substantially correct, we turn to the fragmentary narrative of the 
time that follows the flight of the Hurons. 

A few years after the great council at Sault Ste. Marie in 1671, the French 
began to take practical possession of the Lake Suj)erior region. The mission- 
ary did not return, but the explorer and the trader did. Daniel Grayson du 
Lluit ( Du Luth). Pierre Le Sueur and others made bold explorations and erect- 
ed military and trading-posts. On the lake shore, a few miles above Kah-man- 
a-tig-wa-yah (Pigeon river), Du Lhut established, perhaps in 1679. the first per- 
manent station held by white men within the present limits of Minnesota. 

Some years later, apparently in 1692, or 1693, Le Sueur built some sort 
of a structure on Madelaine island, proliably at the south end of it, a place 
Avhich was long held by his countrymen. It is the site known now as that of 
the "old fort." 

It was at this time, according to Rev. E. D. Neill, that "the Ojibways be- 
gan to concentrate in a village upon the shore of Chequamegon bay." Rev. E. 
P. Wheeler, of Ashland, also differs in opinion, on this subject, with Mr. War- 
ren and writes : . , 

''The Ojibways. I think, can not be shown to have known anything about 
Chequamegon bay before 1660 when from a point toward Green Bay they were 
going up there to trade. Neill seems to me to be safer by far to follow than 
Warren. The second-growth trees which Mr. Warren instances as showing the 
early occupation of La Pointe can easily be accounted for by the fact that in 
1762 a French trader was known to have summered there not becjiuse there 
were Indians there but because they were on the opposite side. Following 
down from 1762 to 1791 when John Johnson summered there find the Cadottes 
also came to the island, there were occasional traders who found it safer to 
trade from over across the channel on La Pointe island than at Raytield and 
vicinity where the Indians were congregated. These transient traders at La 
Pointe would account for the second-growth timber which existed at the time of 
his early recollections as a boy (born in 1824)." 

Whatever is the fact in regard to the coming of the Ojibways to Chequam- 
egon Bay the trading-station on Madelaine island is one of the oldest in the 
Wisconsin region. There is no record of continuous occupancy by the French, 
though doubtless their traders, at least, kept coming and going. The last officer 
of that nationality at Chequamegon Point was Hertel de Beaubassin who left 
there in 1756 with Ojibways as allies for the French in the war then raging 
between them and the British (with whoui before, the American revolution the 
colonists are to be counted). Nine years later when the whole country had 
passed under the. sway of King George Alexander Henry, the English trader 
and author who so narrowly escaped with his life at the time of the massacre 
at (old) Fort M ickinaw, 1763. June 4th, re-estal)lished the Madelaine island 
trading-post. To this j)lace the name Of La Pointe was applied some time dur- 
ing the present century, a name afterwards transferred to the " new fort " built 
by the American Vuv Com))any two miles farther north, when, on account of 



148 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

the use of steamers in the Lake Superior trade, a deeper harbor became a ne- 
cessity. Thus when we see the name La Pointe we need to remeniber that it 
once meant the mainland west of Chequamegon bay, then the southern end of 
Madelaine island and last of all the village that still bears it. 

From Henry the trade seems to have passed to the brothers Cadotte, Jean 
Baptiste and Michael, descendants of a Mons, Cadeau who, it is said, came to 
the Lake Superior region in 1671, in the company of the French deputy al- 
ready named, Simon Francis Daumont, the Sieur de St. Lusson. i 

In 1818 a young man, Lyman Marcus Warren, a native of Berkshire 
county, Massachusetts, 2 came with his younger brother, Truman Abraham, to 
the Lake Superior region ^'to engage in the fur trade. They entered the ser- 
vice of Michael Cadotte and soon became great favorites with the Ojibways." 
"They married daughters of their employer and succeeded to his trade which 
they carried on at first in rivalry to the American Fur Company but afterward 
in connection with it." In 1825 Truman died while on a voyage from Macki- 
naw to Detroit. He left a son, James Henry who, even as these pages are in 
course of preparation (October, 1891), has retired from a service of twenty- 
seven years and three months as the Congregational Home Missionary superin- 
tendent for California. 

To the elder brother were given more years of life. Of his conversion at 
Mackinaw we have already read. His eager zeal for the good of the Indians 
and others with whom he lived led to the establishment of the first mission at 
La Pointe on Madelaine island. He was obliged to wait four years for the 
fulfillment of his cherished desire. But at last the mission that he so earnestly 
pleaded for was begun. The object for which Mr. Stevens came west had not 
been forgotten, and we now return to him and his work. -^ 

In 1828 he visited Sault Ste. Marie, Green Bay, the Stockbridges and the 
Oneidas. He made the acquaintance of Lewis Cass, then governor of Michi- 
gan ; of many officers of the United States army ; of Rev. Alvin Coe, who had 
come west under under the auspices of the Presbyterian Board ; and of Henry 
Rowe Schoolcraft, known both as an explorer and a student of Indian languages 
and customs. Late in the autumn of 1828, the condition of Mr. Stevens's 
health compelled him to go back to New York. Rest and change gave him 
strength and he " began to cherish the hope of soon re-entering upon mission 
work in the great northwest. Late in March, 1829." he writes "we were 
greatly and agreeably surprised to meet the Rev. Alvin Coe, whose acquaint- 
ance we made at Sault Ste. Marie. In company with Dr. Ely, secretary of 
the Presbyterian Board of missions, he had visited Washington for the purpose 
of laying the subject of evangelizing the North American Indians before the 

* A HOii ot Catleau's whose iiaiiu^ is written Jean Baptiste Cadotte. resident at Sault St. 
Marie, was the father of the two named ahove» Their mother was an Ojibway woman, a law- 
ful wife. The marriage was «!elebrated by a priest of Rome. W. W. Warren, a great-grand- 
son, gives us these statements. 

■^ Born 17!)4, August '.>th. 

^ .See page -t'.i. 



AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. 149 

president [John Quincy Adams] and obtaining the sanction and protection 
of the government in prosecuting the work. The programme of the Board 
was to send out two men to explore the country between the Mississippi river, 
Green Bay and Lake Superior, ascertaining the different tribes, their locality, 
number, disposition toward the Americans and the needs of each; and select a 
few prominent sites for the establishment of mission schools if the outlook 
should be favorable to the enterprise. Bro. Coe and myself were commissioned 
to make this exploration the following season and make our report to the Board. 
In the meantime the Mackinaw mission had been transferred to the care of the 
American Board and re-enforced. I immediately wrote to Mr. Everts, secre- 
tary of the American B oai'd, and received the approval of the executive com- 
mittee- and further [was informed] that the Rev. David Greene, one of the 
assistant secretaries, would meet me and Bro. Coe in June at Green Bay for 
consultation on the proposed tour." 

As far as rajndity of transportation is concerned, the modern age began in 
this century. Abraham could travel as fast as Washington. The then newly 
invented steamboat was all that gave Mr. Stevens an advantage in speed over 
the Apostle Paul. Says our Wisconsin missionary: "No railroad in the United 
States yet. From Buffalo by the lake to Green Bay, reaching there by the 14th 
of June. Death had entered the mission family with the Stockbridge Indians, 
the family whom I left the last November, and removed the Rev. Mr. Miner 
from his labors. Bro. Coe and Bro. Greene arrived in a few days. Matters 
were soon arranged and preparation made for the bereaved family to accom- 
pany Mr. Greene down the lakes to New York, and for Bro. Coe and myself to 
start on our work of exploration. We procured horses to take us to Fort 
Winnebago near the Wisconsin riVer. Thence we traveled by canoe down 
that river to the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. There we spent some [about] 
two weeks. Between three [thousand] and four thousand Indians, Winneba- 
goes and Menomonees, were assembled here to treat with the government for 
the sale of their lands east of the Mississippi river. All these lands were at 
that time ceded to tbe United States. The Indians were to have five years to 
remove to the west side of the Mississippi. 

"About the middle of August we proceeded up the Mississippi in bark 
canoes rowed by four Menomonees, thirteen days en rmite. Spent several days 
at Fort Snelling, ^ and in visiting the several villages or bands of Dakota (alias 
Sioux) Indians. At our recpxest several hunters came to the council house at 
this place and we told them through our interpreter the object of our visit: To 
extend to them the hand of friendship ; to invite them to participate in all the 
good things the Great Spirit had bestowed upon us. The good book the Great 
Spirit had given us to guide us in the straight path was as good for the Red 

* In September, 182'.>, Riv. A. Coo and J. D. StLwens arrived at Fort Snelling. Apcnt Ta- 
liaferro (Major Lavvrenc(! Taliaf(^rro of tlie United States army) treated them kindly and of- 
ferred the old mill and huildiuKsat the Falls of St. Antlioiiy for a Presbyterian mission school 
for tlie Dakotis, as W(dl as th<i Indian farm opened at Calhoun and called Eatonville.— " His- 
tory of Minnesota,'" l»y Ken'. Edward Diittiidd Neill. 



150 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

man as the White, and it required us to carry it to all people, both the Red and 
the Black as well as the White. Many of you are becoming old and gray- 
headed, and your eyes are becoming dim and will never learn to read this book. 
But your children may be taught to read it, and you can hear from them the 
sweet words of love which will make you wise and happy here and in the coun- 
try of spirits where all our fathers have gone and to ,which w.e shall soon go. 
We want you to consent to let us come and live witli you, and learn your lan- 
guage, and make books in your language, and ,teaph your children to read them. 
This is what we have to say. 

"The old chief Shonka-shan^ (Red Dog) arose and vsaid : 'We have lis- 
tened to your words. The Great Spirit loved his white children better than his 
red children and gave them this book, and they are wise and happy. Now we 
are glad to hear that he has pity for us and has sent you to u^ tq^peak to us 
these words and give us this book to make us wise and happy that we may have 
warm houses and tine clothes and plenty to eat like his white children. This 
was what he had to say.' " 

From Fort Snelling our travelers started toward Lake Superior. Their 
Dakota friends gave them the use of two horses, and two of the Indians went 
along as guides. "The third day," continues Mr. Stevens, '^' we came to a small 
river. The Indians said the name was Sunrise river. Here we camped for the 
night and our guides told us that when they had slept one night they should 
leave us and go back to the Dakotas; they were afraid to go farther in the Ojib-. 
way country; if we followed down that river " — it flows northward — " we should 
come to the St. Croix river, then following up the St. Croix, we should find the 
Indian trading-post. No offers we could make could induce them to go any 
farther." -,, 

Near noon the next day the guides started homeward, taking with them the 
horses, the shot-gun and a large part of the provisions of the party. The mis- 
sionary explorers were thus left in a dense wilderness defenseless and alone. 
"We peeled some bark, made our blankets and the provisions we had left into 
packs, hung them upon our backs and proceeded down the river. It flowed 
through a tamarack and cedar swamp which was almost impassable. Before 
noon of the next day, Bro. Coe became exhausted and could not proceed. 
I proposed leaving the river to find better traveling. He proposed constructing 
a raft and floating down the river. This last plan was adoi)ted. Six days we 
poled and floated slowly down this seri)entine streani without seeing or liearing 
a human being. Our rations were growing sjiort and when we were going to 
get new supplies who could tell?" <, 

Becoming impatient of their slow progress,,Mr. Steyens left the raft to see 
if they could not do better by walking. Avoiding bends in the river he went 
farther down and awaited the coming of his friend. "I sat down on the high- 



> Mr Stevens writes the naniH Shoiika slian, the /* in both cases beingr nasal, flie last// 

■ ■ ■' 1 . . 1 As we spell now, we wouhl 

ly a short distance 
rainintr School. 



> Mr Stevens writes tlie name srionka siian, the /* ni ooiii cases nemgr naf 
is not proper It is a niis-proniuieiation when the sound is heard. As we spell 
write tlu! name Sliunka Slia, wliich is Red Doj?. lied Dotj's village was only s 
alx)ve Fort Suellins.- A. L. Kijfgs. D. D., Principal of the S.tntee Normal Iran 



AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. 151 

est point of the bluff, and watched and sang, and hallooed long and loud to the 
going down of the sun, but no response. No raft came. The shades of night 
were rapidly approaching, and I felt as much alone as though there were not 
another being on the face of the whole earth. What had befallen Bro. Coe ? 
I sprang to my feet and made rapid strides up the stream, calling loudly lest I 
should pass him and be hopelessly separated. The stars came out one after an- 
otlier, but there came no response or indication of another human being upon 
the face of the whole earth. The dark, turbid, narrow stream, overhung by the 
tall grass upon its banks, was nearly concealed from my sight as the shades of 
night stealthily crept over me, so that I found it difficult and dangerous to fol- 
low its course. The marshy ground was full of holes and frog-ponds and bogs, 
that I could not see to avoid. One moment I was stumbling over the bogs, the 
next sinking deep into the mire or about to slip off a steep bank into tlie river. 
I had no apparatus for striking tire" — this was before the days of matches — 
"and kindling up a beacon light upon the bluff that could be seen from the 
river. Bro. Coe had these and, if some terrible calamity had not befallen him, 
he would certainly before this have struck up a light to indicate his where- 
abouts. As these thoughts were passing through my mind, I cast my eyes across 
the river toward the opposite bluffs and there, to my great surprise, I saw a 
bright light upon the top of the bluff. The awful solitude in a moment was 
gone. There were other human beings in the world besides myself. Hope 
gave new energy to my feet, and although a wide marsh, covered with high 
grass and bogs, and a deep stream were to be crossed amid the darkness of the 
night, I had not a doubt that I should soon be enjoying the fellowship of a 
companion in travel and a fellow-laborer in the kingdom of Christ." The raft 
had been broken in pieces upon a rock in a slight rapid. 

Mr. Stevens's narrative was never finished. The hand, tremulous with age, 
laid dow!» the pen forever. 

Somehow the explorers made their way from the little Sunrise river to the 
shores of Lake Superior. Doubtless they went to La Pointe on Madelaine 
islantl where the American Fur company then maintained an establishment. 
There they would tind a friend in Mr. Warren, the superintendent, whose en- 
treaty for the establishment of a mission at La Pointe had seemed to the labor- 
ers like a call from God. ^ 

Mr. Stevens's journey of exploration finished, the autumn of this year, 
1829, saw him in Mr. Ambler's place as teacher at the Stockbridge mission. 

In tlie summer of 1829, when Mr. Warren made his annual trip to Mack- 
inaw he took a boat for the special purpose of bringing back with him a mis- 
sionary. No one could go that year, but in 1830 Fredrick Ayer, returned with 
him, opened a school, — attended at first only by white children — studied the 

* Mr. Warren was a most liolpful friiMid to the mission. He rests in death where he laljored 
faithfully in life, at La Pointe. (Died 1847, October 10th.) A son, William Whipple Warren, 
now dead, is tlu; author of a " History of the ().iii>ways," puhlisluMl by the Miiniesota Histori- 
cal society A daufjliti r, Mrs. Mary (Warren) Entflisli. labors in Dm Episcopal mission at Ke<l 
Lake, Minnesota. 



152 Ix\ UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Ojibway language, and made the beginning of a mission at La Pointe on Mad- 
elaine island three miles across from the site of the present village of Bayfield. 
At that time there was no other mission on Lake Superior. There was neither 
minister nor priest, — Mr. Ayer was not yet ordained, — west of 8ault Ste. Marie. 
The Ojibways were in the rudest state of savage life."^ 

The next year the mission was strengthened by the coming of Rev. Sher- 
man Hall and wife, with an interpreter, Mrs. Elizabeth (John) Campbell. The 
mission family left Mackinaw on the 5th of August, 1831, in company with 
Mr. Warren and arrived at La Pointe on the 3()th of the same month. Under 
the former date Mr. Hall wrote as follows: 

"The manner of traveling on the upper waters of the great lakes, is with 
open canoes and batteaux. The former are made in the Indian style, the ma- 
terials of which are the bark of the white birch, and the wood of the white 
cedar. The cedar forms the ribbing, and the bark the part which comes in 
contact with the water. These are made of various sizes, from ten to thirty 
feet in length. The largest are sufficiently strong to carry from two to three 
tons of lading. They are propelled by the paddle, and when well built and 
well manned, without lading, will go from eighty to one hundred miles in a day, 
in calm weather. 

" Batteaux are light-made boats, about forty feet in length and ten or 
twelve feet wide at the center, capable of carrying about live tons' burden 
each, and are rowed by six or seven men. They have no deck. Upon articles 
of lading with which the boat is filled, is the place for the passengers : who have 
no other seats than they ean form for themselver, out of their traveling trunks, 
boxes, beds, etc. On these they place themselves in any position necessity may 
require, or convenience suggest. Such is the vehicle which is to convey us to 
the place of our destination. In the small compass of this boat we have to find 
room for eleven persons. 

" At night our tent is pitched on some convenient place on shore." 

This company took care not to travel on the Sabbath. Their first Sunday, 
August 7th, was spent at Sault Ste. Marie, "where they were received with 
Christian hospitality by the Rev. Abel Bingham, Baptist missionary there." 
Rev. Jeremiah Poi'ter began his work at Sault Ste. Marie this year, but not un- 
til about Thanksgiving. 

Mr. Hall's journal for August 14th shows how the second Sabbath was 
honored : '' We commenced the day witli our private and family devotions. 
The heat was very oppressive, but we raised a canopy. A large proportion of 
those in company with us are French Catholics, and do not understand the Eng- 

' Of an earlier time than tliis, Mr. W. VV. Warren, a warm friend of missions and a faith- 
ful Christian, wrote in 1851 or 1852. 

"The Ojibways were more deserving of respect in those days while living in their natu- 
ral state, and under the full forceof their primitive moral beliefs, than they are at the present 
day, after being degenerated by a close contact with an unprinciple«l frontier population." 

This last remark suggests the fact that the great question for us to consider in connection 
with mission work among the Indians is whither that race shall have good from our people 
or only evil. 



AM()N(J THE OJIBWAYS. l-,3 

lish language. In the morning our service was in the French language, consist- 
ing of a chapter from the Bible and a tract read by one of the clerks. A few 
of the men attended. We also had a service for the Indians, attended by a 
few. In the evening we held a prayer-meeting." 

A wind from the north the next Sunday rendered overcoats a necessity. 
"On our arrival at this place [then called Petit Marais] last evening, we found 
the traders of the Fond du Lac^ department encamped here, they having 
come to the determination not to travel on the Sabbath. There were therefore 
fourteen boats in the harbor together to-day, and not less than two hundred 
persons camped on the shore. At lialf-])ast ten, A. M., we had a service in Eng- 
lish. In the afternoon we bad a service in French which was conducted by 
•singing, ])rayer, reading the Scriptures and a French tract. A much larger 
number attended than was present last Sabbath. In tlie evening we had a 
prayer-meeting. Thus has the gospel been preached in this wilderness to-day." 

On the following Sunday a French service was held, attended by a ''large 
number of men." The Tuesday thereafter the long voyage of more than four 
hundred eighty-five miles came to an end. 

The La Pointe to which the missionaries came was very different from the 
deserted village that still bears the name. It was the '-old" fort on the soutli- 
ern end of Madelaine island soon to be supplanted by the "new fort," or Fort 
Ramsey.- two miles northward. P^ach in turn was the chief j)lace of trade on 
Lake Superior. "The first sermon ever delivere<l at this place by a regularly 
ordained Christian minister " was by Mr. Hall on the afternoon of the Sabbath 
after his arrival. He had held a meeting in the morning attended by a consid- 
erable number of Frenchmen. It is pleasant to read his acknowledgement of 
"kindness received from Catholic families." 

About the first of September the school averaged twenty-five. "The in- 
struction given has been wholly in the English language on account of our hav- 
ing no books in the language of the natives. Some elementary Indian books 
are very much needed. Some of the children begin to read in the English Tes- 
tament. A Sabbath-school exercise has been held on Sabbath mornings with 
the children." Meetings for adults also were held at which a few verses were 
often read from a small Sciipture tract jjrepared by Dr. James ^ of the United 
States army. The hymn-book used was one published for the use of the Meth- 
odist missions to the Ojibways in Ui)per Canada. 

From La Pointe we return to Sault Ste. Marie where during the following 
winter 18."^ 1-32"* Rev. William Thurston Boutwell was making special prepar- 

' Fond du Lac : source of the lake. This Fond du Lac is in Minnesota, near Duhith. 

-' A name little iiscd, apparently, and l)ut for a short time. 

■■' Tllon^!rh not at tliat time a pr()l'i\ssi-(l Christian, Dr. .lames aided, as we shall .see, incstah- 
ILshiiig tlie tirst Sunday scliool in Wisconsin. Later In; became a member of the Baptist 
church at Sault Ste. Marie. He accompanied, in IHlit 20 Major Long's expedition to the 
Rocky Mountains and thre<^ years later published an account of it. 

4 During this same winter (Marcli, 18;V2), Rov. .Jeremiah Porter, himself a Cont^reKation- 
alist, organized at Sault Ste. Marie a church that was in name Presbyterian though never in 
connHction with any presbytery. Henry Rowe .Schoolcraft was one of the founders of this 



1S4 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

ation to join the Ojibway mission. Of what sort this preparation was we learn 
in a letter dated 1831, October 13th: "I regret one thing — that I had not 
come here immediately after the subject was first proposed, in which case I 
should have been nearly, if not quite, three months' advance in Indian of where 
I now am. I am satisfied that it is not a difficult, though it may be somewhat 
of a laborious task to acquire the language. As yet I have devoted the major 
part of my time to the variation of the verb which is, comparatively speaking, 
endless, both in the affirmative and the negative form. And here I wish you to 
give all who have undertaken to learn Indian to understand that no one will do 
for a missionary to Lake Superior who shi-inks from apparent difficulty at the 
outset — here is only the beginning of sorrow." In the same letter he writes 
for his "Greek Lexion, Greek Grammar, Ernesti on Interpretation, Woods on 
Baptism, Family Monitor, one of the blank account books anil the little Mem- 
oirs of Nathan Dickerman." ^ 

Years later Mr. Boutwell wrote the subjoined narrative: 
" Dr. James, on a visit to the officers at the Fort at Mackinaw, made a 
brief call at the mission and learned from Rev. Mr. Ferry that I was anxious 
to learn the Chippewa language. I was called and introduced. As he was 
leaving he made this proposition to me : • If you will accept a bed, and a plate 
at my table, you shall be a thrice welcome guest on this one condition, give me 
one hour a day in the study of Hebrew. In addition, you shall have the use 
of my office and my Indian interpreter who, when a mere lad, was taken cap- 
tive, and adopted by an old squaw, and speaks the language like an Indian.' 
Such an offer was too valuable to be declined. 

" From Mackinaw, ninety miles to the Sault, I passed my first canoe voy- 

cliurch and an elder in it. Captain, afterward Major, D. La Fayette Wilcox, commandant at 
Fort Brady (Sault Ste. Marie), entered into Christian covenant iirst with this cliurch, and the 
wife of his successor, Major John Fowle was also a member. Pauline Adelaine, then a h.ibe 
in arms, daughter of Major Fowle, is known to the world as herself a benefactor of Wtdles- 
ley college and tlie widow of its founder, Henry Fowle Durant. 

In a letter begun 183;^, May 4tli, at Sault Ste. Marie, and finished on the 14th of the same 
month at Chicago, Mr. Porter, in speaking of the former place, tells us that ".about seventy 
have expressed hope in Christ since I first reached there. May .'ith I preached in that favored 
spot for the last time. Eight were admitted to the church." He gave his reasons for leaving. 
Most of the church were ccnnected witli the garrison, and that had been ordered to Fort D.^ar- 
born. Mr. Schoolcraft, his patron and faithful friend, expected soon to remove to Mackinaw, 
though he did not go until 1839. At Sault Ste. Marie there was a Baptist minister and .an 
Episcopal. A third, a Methodist, was expected soon. Chicago needed a minister. Major 
Fowle invited Mr. Porter to go with him and liis command. They embarked May Oth. " I 
hope we have brought in our colony military church the leaven of tlie gospel." It became 
the mother of tlie First Presbyterian church of Chicago, organized by Mr. Porter, mostly out 
of Congregational material, Wednesday, 2(;th June, 1833. One of its ruling elders was Major 
Wilcox who, in about a month after Major Fowle's arrival, relieved him in command of the 
fort Major Fowle was transferred to West Point as professor of military tactics. 

Mr. Porter was the first resident Protestant pa.stor in Chicago. " A Papal priest [John Mary 
Irenseus St. Cyr] reached this place from St. Louis a fortnight since," adds Mr. Porter. Jesse 
Walker, a Methodist, bad been coming in once a month or thereabout to liold meetings. Fa- 
tlu^r Kent of Galena, who seems to have made a Pauliiu'. tour this spring was glad to find Mr. 
Porter at Chicago, a village whicii he thought would grow as rapidly as any in this Western 
country. Mr. Porter thought that it would soon be large enough to support a minister. 

1 This letter was written from " Saut de St. Marie " to Mr. Abel D. Newton at Ma«kinaw. 
It is dated 1831, October 13ih. 



AMONG THE OJIRWAYS. 15") 

age in silence, save tliat, as oft as its remembrance occurs, I thank God that 
my bones and those of the crew are not at the bottom of Lake Huron. 

"At the table Christmas morning Dr. James said to me, 'Mr. Boutwell, 
when among the Romans you must do as the Romans do. Now visit every fam- 
ily in the village; kiss every female you meet on the way and wish her a merry 
Christmas; accept a cake and a sip of wine from each hostess.' Puritan blood 
flushed my face. I replied: 'If such is your Christmas I take none of it.' 

"At ten A. M., I ventured to step outside, and take a look up and down 
the street. Squads of ten and twenty, men, women and children, of all tinges, 
from the pure native to the white French, were toggled in their best, going the 
rounds for cakes and cookies. The nights were made hideous by Indians, half- 
breeds and French in drunken revelry. Such was my first Christmas in this 
country." ^ 

111 the spring of 1832 Mr. Schoolcraft organized an expedition with the 
purpose of ascertaining the true source of the Mississippi, and making other 
geographical and scientific discoveries. Accompanying this expedition, Mr. 
Boutwell came to La Pointe, June 20th. Thence the party went westward by 
way of Fond du Lac. The first sermon ever preached at this old trading-post, 
now a station on the Northern Pacific railway, was by Mr. Boutwell, probably 
on Sunday, June 24th. " On the following Sabbath the rain and the mosquitoes 
rendered it impossible for us to have divine service." 

Under date of 13th of July Mr. Boutwell wrote : " At two p. m., we 
reached Elk lake " (now called Itasca). Before that time Cass lake had 
been regarded as the source of the Mississippi. Apparently not satisfied with 
"Omoshkos,"- the Ojibway word for "Elk," Mr. Schoolcraft desired, for the lake 
of new renown, what he awkwardly calls a " female " name. Not being him- 
self a classical scholar, he asked Mr. Boutwell the Latin words for "true" and 
'*head." As "verum" did not seem to be suited to his purpose, Mr. School- 
craft took the kindred noun "Veritas," and from its two last syllables and the 
first of "caput" formed "Itasca."^ 

' During the writing of tliese piiges Mr. Boutwell has passed from earth (18!»0, October 
11th). He was born in Hillsborough county. New Hampsliire, 1803, February .'ird. He re- 
ceived his education at Phillips (Exeter) academy, Dartmouth college and Andover s(iminary. 
In school life he was associated for nine years with Sherman Hall, with whom for so many 
years he shar(!d the labors of tlie Ojibway mission. In 1847, feeling that he could thus be 
more useful, h(^ abandoned work among the Indians and began home missionary service 
among the lumbermen i!i and about Stillwater, Minnesota. 

- The o in niosh is printed in Mr. .Schoolcraft's book after the fashion of a (ierinan o with 
an umlaut. 

■' The writer was one of a party of fourteen who, during the month of .\ugust, IHiil, un- 
<ler tlie leadership of Captain Willard (Mazier, explori^d the region of Lake Ita.sca. 

Itasca was found to be a lakc^ consisting of tbrcie narrow arms; at their point of meeting 
lies Schoolcraft Island. The greatest length of the lake is about four miles. Tlie outlet is at 
the end of the north arm; at the end of tlie southwest arm, within oiui-fourth mile of each 
other, enter the two principal feeders of the lake. The more westerly and larger of tlicse, 
Nicollet creek, drains a tamarack swamp. It is a line stream of clear, cold water. It has sev- 
eral small tributaries: near its head are two ponds of three and twelve acres in e.xtcnit. The 
source of the creek is springs. The total h^ngtli of the creek is one <and two fifths miles. The 
other creek entering Itasca, tlu; one (•ommonly calh'd Elk, is about half as large. It is but 
one-fifth of a mile long and affords an outhit for tlm waters of the lake known variously as 



156 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Mr. Boutwell retiuned by the same route which, probably, Mr. Stevens had 
traversed three years before, the way of the St. Croix (270 niiles) and the Bois 
■Brule (100 miles), i The entire distance traveled by him is estimated at 2400 
miles. During the cuui'se of the journey, which occupied about sixty days, he 
visited ''twelve or fifteen bands of Indians embracing about 3000 souls." 

A mission-house, still standing but unoccupied, was built at La Pointe 
about half-way between the old fort and the new. Besides affording a place 
for worship and teaching, it became the home of all the missionaries who 
labored on the island. It was erected and occupied in 1834. 

Again a pioneer of pioneers, Mr. Ayer, in the autumn of 1832, jnessed 
fai'ther into the wilderness on a tour of missionary exploration. He visited 
Sandy Lake and Leech Lake. The former lying ''on the great portage route ^ 
from Winnepeg. by way of the St. Louis river to Lake Superior, has been a 
noted point on that route for two hundred years." Very near the confluence of 
the lake's short outlet with the Mississippi, was the home and trading-post of 
William A. Aitkin, for whom a Minnesota county has been named. Mr. Ayer 
wintered with him, taught sdiool and finished an Ojibway spelling-book, begun 
at La Pointe. Early in the spring, with eighty dollars paid by Mr. Aitkin, 
who also furnished an experienced guide, Mr. Ayei- started on foot for Macki- 
naw, bound for Utica, New York, to get his book printed soon enough to make 
it possible for him to return to Lake Superior that season with the traders. 
That was a joumiey for a hero, and very nearly cost him liis life. Once, hav- 
ing broken through the ice, he would have been drowned but for a long pole 
wliich prudently he was carrying. 

The missionaries of that time were not strangers to long and hard jour- 
neys. Nor were these always undertaken in summer. " It requires an athletic 
constitution," write Messrs. Hall and Boutwell from La Pointe, 1833, Febru- 
ary 7th, "to shoulder one's pack and march five or six days in succession 
through the uninhabited wilderness, jierhaps with a pair of snowshoes on the 

the Elk or Glazier, wliicli is situated one-tiftli of a mile south of this southwest arm of Itasca. 
The greatest length of this lake is one and one fourth miles, its width about lialf its length, 
its area two Imnd red fifty-live acres, its devith forty-five feet. It is fed by four creeks. The 
respective lengths of these are: one-fourth mile, one and one-fourth miles, one and one-fourth 
miles,' one and live-eighths miles. On one of them is a pond of nine and one-half acres, on an- 
other a pond of two and one-half acres. Tliey all drain tamarack swamps. The total dis- 
tance from Lake Itasca to tin; longest of these is two and three-fifths miles. It is the opinion 
of the writer and I think of all of our party, that this lake (Elk or (Jlazier) fultiils the great- 
est number of conditions for being the source of the river.— Albkkt Wurts Whitney, 
Beloit, Wisconsin. 

i During tlu^ second glacial epoch the eastern end of what is now Lake Superior was prob- 
ably filled with ice. The lake thus reduced in area stood at a surface level at least four hun- 
dred twenty-five feet above that of the present day ami fouiul an outlet into the Mississippi 
through the Erule-St. Croix valley. Therein is now a low portage of only two miles. 

- This route must not hv confounded with another between the same lakes, one shorter 
and nun-e used,— that by way of Grand Portage and the Pigeon river. See page 147 for a ref- 
erence to the founding of (irand Portage. This'place was the destination of the lirst British 
expedition that,- " in the latter part of May, 17(12," under command of IJc^utenant Tliomas 
Bennett,— sailed the wat<'rs of Lake Superior. Tiie words just (luoted are those of Thonu>- 
.soii Maxwell, a native of Massachu.sftts, and afterward one ot th(^ famous " Bo.stoii tea 
l)ar1y." See " Wiseonsin Historical Collections," volume XL, page21.'i. His fuller narrative 
i.s piiblislKui in the " E.s.sex Institute Hi.storieal Collections," volume VIl. 



AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. 157 

feet, and at night to encamp in the ()i)en air with only a blanket or two for a 
covering." With men who would thus endure hardness as good soldiers of 
Jesus Christ, the mission was sure to do good work. 

The first organization of a Congregational church within the present limits 
of Wisconsin took place at La Pointe, 1833, August 20th, Tuesday, in connec- 
tion with this mission. ^ The first record-book of the church, recovered during 
the preparation of this narrative, thus tells the story : 

"La Pointe, Aug. 20, 1833. 
''The re-enforcement of the Cbippiwa Mission having arrived, and all the 
members being present, together with several other jjrofessors of religion, it 
was thought best that a church should be organized before those who were des- 
tined to other stations should leave this place ; accordingly a meeting was held 
this evening for this purpose. Alter appropriate devotional exercises, a confes- 
sion of faith, and Covenant were read by Mr. Boutwell and formally consented 
to by the members present. Mr. L. M. Warren was elected Clerk. It was 
thought inexpedient to elect other officers at this time. 

'' The individuals present who gave their consent to the Confession of faith 
and Covenant, were Rev. W. T. Boutwell, Rev. S. Hall, Mrs. B. P. Hall, Ly- 
man M. Warren. Edmund F. Ely, C. W. Borup, Mrs. E. Borup. Mr. John 
Campbell, Mrs. E. Campbell, Mr. F. Ayer, Mrs. E. Ayer, Misses Delia Cook 
& Sabina Stevens." 

This church maintained its Congregational character until after the trans- 
fer of the mission to the Presbyterian Board in 1870. It was re-organized, ac- 
cording to Presbyterian polity, 1876, August 6th, Sunday.^ 

In the autumn of 1833, Mr. Ayer sought a new field. September 16th, 
he went to Yellow Lake and at its outlet established a branch mission. " This," 
says W. H. Folsom, in his book "Fifty Years in the Northwest," "was 
the first actual movement in opening the way for white settlements in the St. 
Croix valley." Here was the gospel first preached within the limits of what is 
now Burnett county, Wisconsin. A school was begun there 1834, September 
24th. On the third of October, 1833, Mr. Boutwell arrived at Leech Lake, 
near the head of the Mississippi, and there established a mission, the first west 
of that river and in what is now Minnesota. To this, the Seneca Indians of New 
York made a contribution. On his way to Leech Lake, one of the dark places 
of the earth, Mr. Boutwell st()i)ped at Mr. Aitkin's where Edmund F. P^ly had 
become Mr. Ayer's successor, arriving 1833, September 19th, and beginning 
his school September 23rd. 

One other branch station. Fond du Lac, had a beginning the following 
year, as noted in the rei)ort of the mission for 1835 : 

"La Pointe: Shernuin Hall, missionary, and his wife; Joseph Town, farm- 
er and mechanic ; Delia Cook, teacher. Yellow Lake : Fre<leric Ayer, catechist 

' It will be remembered that the Stockbridge church had been on^anized before its first 
members left New York. 

■' Unwisely, this too, like the Storkbridge Indian church, bus been put by the Presbyteri- 
ans in charge of their Home Mis.sion l)oard. See note 1, paj^e 144. 



158 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

and teacher, and his wife : John L. Sejinour. teacher ; Sahina Stevens, assistant. 
Leech Lake : William T. Boutwell, missionary, and his wife. Fond du Lac : 
Ecbnund F. Ely, teacher and catecliist. 

"■Mr. Ely removed from Sandy Lake to Fond du Lac in the summer of 
last year; the latter place, which is at the western extremity of Lake Superior, 
affording, in his opinion, a more promising field for permanent missionary labor . 
Since his removal he has had a small school, in which he was more successful 
than he anticipated, has held various meetings for giving religious instruction, 
and visited and conversed with the people. An ordained missionary is much 
needed at this station." 

Of this ••small school." at Fond du Lac (of Lake Superior). Mr. Ely, un- 
der date of 1835, October 23rd, thus wrote : 

"I am much engaged in my school. * * It is on the whole 

very interesting. Some are making good progress. I think that a class of five 
or six will be able to read and wTite intelligibly in the spring. We have some 
inconveniences. For instance, family, school, cooking, baggage and beds are 
put into a house sixteen and one-half by fourteen, and about sixteen square feet 
of that is occupied by the chimney, but this is so much better than no school 
room that we rejoice instead of murmur. I trust that we shall be provided 
with a convenient room in due time." 

We turn again to the mission report made in 1835: 

•• Mr. Boutwell still remains at Leech Lake. More than a year since he 
was united in marriage with Miss Hester Crooks, i heretofore a teacher at Yel- 
low Lake. He is received and kindly treateil by the Indians, large numbers of 
whom leside in the vicinity, but his instructions seem to make little impression 
on them. His remoteness from the white settlements exposes him to many in- 
conveniences, and compels him to depend for subsistence almost entirely on the 
fish of the lakes, and the wild rice gathered in the marshes and creeks; and 
these afford but a precarious supply. 

"•• At Yellow Lake the scarcity of provisions compelled the Indians to dis- 
perse in various directions in search of food, which, as all the children left the 
place, caused the school to be suspended for some months. The whole numl)er 
of pupils there has been about thirty, and the average attendance twelve. As 
game is every year becoming scarcer, and their wild rice so frequently fails, the 
Indians will soon be driven to the alternative of cultivating the land or perish- 
ing by famine. 

•' During the last winter the school at La Pointe increased to the number of 
thirtv dailv attendants, the pupils and their parents manifesting more interest 
than at any former period. Most of the pupils are taught in both the English 
and Ojibway languages. Two public religfious exercises are held at this station 

* Mrs. Boutwell was a daughter of Rimsey Crooks, of whom Irving writes in his "Astoria." 
Crooks was a member of the American Fur Company. Mrs. BoutweU's mother was of Indian 
origin. The first dwelling of Mr. and Mrs. Boutwell after their marri:ige w;is a lotlge of bark. 
At Leech Lake such provisions as they ^ot from white settlements had to be brought from 
Fort Snellin^, part of the way on men s l»acks. The Indians at Leech Lake did not long 
treat theni kinuly. 



AMONG THE O.J Hi WAYS. 159 

on the Sabbath : one in English and one in Ojibway language. As the number 
of persons speaking the English language is already considerable at La Pointe, 
and is likely to increase (since that place has become the principal depot for 
the business of the American Fur company in the Northwest), it is highly im- 
portant that regular public religious services should be maintained in that lan- 
guage. The number of Indians who attend meeting has considerably increased, 
though most of the men still stand aloof and some ridicule and oppose." 

A second mission, one of the Roman Catholic communion, was begun by 
Rev. Frederic Baraga, a native of Austria, who arrived at La Pointe 27th July, 
1835. In the year of his arrival he caused to be built what Rev. Chrysostom 
Verwyst calls a chapel. Six years later some logs of this building were used in 
the construction of the ])resent church, dedicated 1st August, 1841. This is 
the church over which, in spite of what Messrs. AVarren (W. W.) and Verwyst 
both have written, some ill-informed people, supi)osing it was erected by Mar- 
quette, indulge in much wasted sentiment. ^ In it hangs a pleasing though not 
a great picture, a Descent from the Cross, probably by some Italian painter or 
copyist. The story given in some guide books that this painting was brought 
to America by Marquette is preposterous and absurd. If it had been in Mar- 
quette's mission, — which it will be remembered was not on Madelaine island at 
all, — he would doubtless have taken it with him when he and his people were 
driven to " Missilimackilnac.'' If, on this subject, any doubt is left, it will surely 
be removed by the subjoined letter, perhaps the last ever written by the late 
Captain John Daniel Angus, of La Pointe r^ 

Jan 27th 94 
Dear Sir 
♦ Yours of the 18th is at hand and I hasten to Answer it I have 

Lived at La pointe the most of the time since 1835. Bishop Baraga brought 
picture as stated in 1840 from Rome I know, for I assisted him to unpack the 
same and he told me at the [time] that the pope presented [it] to him and at 
the time that he did not know its age. at the same time the Bishop's sister the 
Countess de Hefferon came with her brother and remained one [year] and then 
returned home to berlin She was ii widow about 45 years of age and possessed 
of A Large fortune. No Marquette never Saw that })icture unless he saw it in 
Rome Hoping that this find [you] well while 

I remain yours 

J D. Angus.* 

* An innocently meant, but droll inscription upon a tombstone in the cemetery adjoiniuif 
the church is hero reproduced ; 

To The Memory 

of 

Abraham Beaulieu 

Born 15, September 

1822. 

Accidently Shot 

4th April 1844. 

As a mark of attoctioii from hi.s brother. 
•* The dispatch annouiicinj? his death, is datetl (18i»4) February inth. 
^ Of course, a statement of the fact will make, to many, not the sliifhtost difference. Our 



160 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Close by the lake shore, on the right-hand side of the landing-place, stands 
the church begun, perhaps, in 1839, and finished, says Rev. E. P. Wheeler, 
'■early in the summer of 1840." It was built by subscription by the Protest- 
ant mission and congregation. According to Captain Angus there was a differ- 
ence of only a few days in beginning work on this building and that belonging 
to the Roman Catholics. He does not remember which was begun first. The 
Protestant church was built on land that, in spite of the claim of the mission, 
the government years afterward offered for sale. Notice of the proposed sale 
did not reach the missionaries and the site was bought by a Jewish trader. In- 
dians and whites had both left La Pointe and it was not thought worth while 
either to buy his claim or dispute his title. 

In our narrative we return to Yellow Lake whence the mission force re- 
moved to Pokeguma lake, on the west of the St. Croix, arriving there in May, 
1836. Though they were thus beyond our proper field, it may be noted that a 
church numbering at first only seven members, three of wliom were Indians, 
was organized there by Mr. HaU in February. 1837. He baplized eight per- 
sons, and married two couples. These services were the first of the kind in the 
St. Ci'oix valley. Some understanding of the difficidty of the mission work, at 
least in its beginning, may be gained f x'om the following statement : '*■ The mo- 
tives of the gospel, in themselves considered, have no more influence over the 
Indian than over the deer he follows in the chase." The missionaries, there- 
fore, first encouraged the Indian to work, and always purchased of him his 
spare provisions. 

The mission at Leech Lake was less successful. The Ojibways there were 
of the band fitly known as the Pillagers. On an August day in 1836, Mr. 
Boutwell heard shouts and noises across the lake. Having rowed across, he 
found Jean N. Nicollet, a distinguished French astronomer, who, in the service 
of the L'nited States government, had come to determine the latitude and longi- 
tude of various places about the head waters of the Mississippi. The Indians, 
totally unable to understand what he was doing with his mysterious instruments, 
and vexed because he made them no presents of tobacco or anything else, were 
giving him sei'ious annoyance. The meeting of these missionaries of religion 
and science was a mutual pleasure. In his official report Mr. Nicollet acknowl- 
edges "kind attentions" from Mr. Boutwell, and expresses his personal "affec- 
tion and gratitude" toward him. 

In the following December, the Leech Lake Indians murdered the agent 
of the American Fur Company. ^ But not until they poisoned one of his chil- 
dren, — without, however, causing death,— did Mr. Boutwell leave them. In 

true Marquette devotee is on that particular subject of lier admiration, simply irrational ; and 
the insincere one is playing a game to win Roman Catholic votes. 

^ It may be that this agent and he whose bursal is spoken of in the subjoined note are one 
and the same : 

" This afternoon I followed the remains of poor Alfred Aitkin to the grave. The wretched 
father arrived with them yesterday. It is impossible to see and not to pity him. He is the 
picture of distress and almost of despair. By his request the [Episcopal] church burial ser- 
vice was read at the house. The scene at the grave was impressive and affecting.'"— Delia 
Cook. Fond du Lac, 25th February. 1H.S7. 



AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. iGl 

the summer of 1838 he removed to Pokeguma Lake, and Mr. Ayer went thence 
to Fond du Lac. 

For a time, the woi'k at Pokeguma was one of great promise. " We have 
reason to bless God for what our eyes are permitted to behold at this place. 
We believe that Christ has set his seal upon some here, and that the Holy Spirit 
is now leading others to him. * * Three, we believe, have the seal 

of Christ in their hearts." i 

But soon there was a change. The heathen Indians became openly hostile: 
'•At Fond du Lac and Pokeguma they have been much tried this summer 
with the Indians. They have killed several cattle at the latter place for the 
mission, and one at Fond du Lac. Some have appeared otherwise hostile. 
What the Lord intends to do with us and the Indians, I do not know. I have 
no further anxiety than to be ascertained of his will. At present, I do not see 
any reason why we should not persevere in efforts to save these wretched 
heathen." 2 

The next year Mr. Hall was able to say:^ "The station at Pokeguma ap- 
pears more promising than it did last summer." Of Fond du Lac whence, it 
seems, the Indians had meanwhile removed, — whether voluntarily or by com- 
pulsion I do not know, — he wrote under date of 1839, September 5th: 

"Our station at Fond du Lac has been given up and the missionaries 
[have] removed to Pokeguma." 

But the Pokeguma mission was not to escape violence. The Ojibways had 
reason to expect an attack from the Sioux. But these, Indian-like, had sur- 
rounded the mission settlement and had a force on the opposite side of the lake, 
in all one hundred and eleven warriors, before the Ojibways suspected their ar- 
rival. The plan of the Sioux was to slay their enemies when at work. But, 
fearing an attack, the Ojibways had been spending their nights on an island in 
the lake half a mile from the shore. So they were late in getting to the gar- 
dens which they were learning to cultivate. Meanwhile three of their young 
men rowed across the lake on their way to warn another portion of their tribe. 
Two of the mission school-girls, about twelve years old, went with them to bring 
the canoe back. The warriors who had been stationed on that side of the lake to 
cut off the escape of the fugitives tired, prematurely for the carrying out of their 
plan. The three young men on the shore got off' safe, but the Sioux, in whose 
code of warfare the slaughter of a child is as honorable as the killing of a war- 
rior, followed the girls, who were attempting to row back to the mission, and 
killed both. Thus the alarm was given and a tierce tight followed (1841, 
May 24th). 

The Sioux were driven off' after a two or three days' struggle, but the vic- 
tory of the Ojibways w^as marred by the cannibalism of some of their pagan 
warriors. In contrast with this heathen feast was the Christian service at the 



' .John L. Seymour, Pokeguma, IH'M, February «th. 

* Rev. Slienuaii Hall, Lii Pointe, 18:18, October 13th, to his friend and former mission- 
associate, Mr. Abel 1). Newton, (rreeii Bay. 
» Under date of 18;il>, March llth. 



162 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

burial of the poor girls, the first victims of the massacre. As soon as possible, 
Mr. Ely went in search of the bodies of his murdered pupils. Struck into the 
brain of each was a tomahawk. A tragic ending for a schoolgirl's life ! "The 
Indians were scattered," writes Mrs. Ayer, '' and dared not return." For two 
years they were thus kept from their homes. The Pokeguma church removed 
for a time to Fond du Lac. But "when the spring of 1843 came, the fear of 
their enemies had so far passed away that many of the old settlers at Pokegu- 
ma returned, pagans as well as Christians, and again cultivated their fields and 
occupied their houses."^ But soon the coming of white settlers displaced the 
Indians. Pokeguma as a missionary station was abandoned in 1845 and, by 
the removal of its people, the Indian church there became extinct. 

The fight at Pokeguma was but one of the occurences of a war that ulti- 
mately broke up not only the mission station at Pokeguma, but that established 
at Lake Harriet by Mr. Stevens and a third, of which we shall learn more, that 
was at Little Crow's ^ village, Kaposia. 

A winter journey in 1843 took Mr. Ayer to Leech lake, west of the Mis- 
sissippi, and to Red Lake whose waters flow northward into Hudson's Bay. At 
Red Lake, a mission was begun 1843, April 17th, probably by Mr. Ayer him- 
self ^ and Mr. Ely. Though this field also is outside the limits of our state, 
yet an account of it shows that the work of the missionaries whose history we 
have been following was confined within no narrow geographical lines. Nor 
has their influence and following been limited to the operations of one mis- 
sionary society or of one denomination of Christians. At Red Lake the Epis- 
copalians now carry on the work.'* In the first establishment of this station, 
we notice with tlie familiar names of Ayer and Ely a new one, that of David 
Brainerd Spencer. At this time he was the representative of a new movement, 
though at a later date he labored for a time under the auspices of the American 
Board. 

As early as 1837 or 1838 part of the intensely evangelistic spirit of Ober- 
lin was turned toward the Indians as objects of missionary work. About this 
time Professor, afterwards President, Finney said in his characteristic way that 
no man was fit to be a missionary who could not take an ear of corn in his 
pocket and start for the Rocky Mountains. Filled with this spirit, earnest 

> S. R. Rigss, D. D. 

* Father, of the Little Crow who became so notorious in the massacre of 1862. 

* "Mr. Ayer spent a few years at RbcI Lake and, in the winter of 1848-9, settled on the 
borders of the newly purchased Territory. In due time he opened a school for the more 
promising children in different parts of the Indian country. Tliis school was kept up for sev- 
eral years, and when Belle Prairie was sufficiently settled to have an organization, they 
joined with us. We worked together till the commencement of the civil war." Thus writes 
his wife, Elizabeth Taylor Ayer. It should be added that Mr. Ayer was ordained at Oberlin 
in 1842, and when he returned to his work Mr. Spencer came with him. Mr. Ayer was a 
member of the constitutional convention which, fitting from the 13th of July until the 29th 
of August, 1857, framed the present constitution of Minnesota. Born at Stockbridge, Massii- 
chusetts, 1803, he died in the service of the American Missionary Association and was buried 
at Atlanta, Georgia, 1st October, 18(i7. 

4 For reasons satisfartorv to themselves,— mainly, it is believed, fin.ancial,— the Congre- 
gational church[es] reliiKiuislied their mission at Red Lake in 1877. and, in 1879, tiieir scliool 
at Leech Lake, and botli places have been occupied by Bishop Whipple.— S. R. Rigos, D. I). 



AMONG THE OJIBAVAYS. 163 

young men and women sought distant fields, and among them were some who 
came to the Minnesota region. At that time the places of labor which these 
chose as their own were, as ex-President Fairchild remarks, perhaps more inac- 
cessible than is any mission field on earth at the present day. Thither were 
two routes, presenting almost equal difticulties, one by way of Lake Superior 
the other by way of the Mississippi. On both were stations of the American 
Board where, as a matter of course, these recruits for the Master's work found 
a welcome, 1 and at some of which, as at La Pointe and elsewhere, they enjoyed 
opportunities for learning the language of the people among whom they pro- 
posed to labor. Thus the old missions became the fostering sisters of the new. 

But at this time there were those at Oberlin and elsewhere who expressed, 
sometimes in fervid language, their distrust of the Board on the subject of slav- 
ery, and in turn many of the supporters of the Bjard, and others, looked with 
grave suspicion upon " Oberlin theology." And as President Finney's state- 
ment was found to require very great modification when reduced to actual prac- 
tice, there was organized, 15th June, 1843, by the Western Reserve (Congre- 
gational) Association, the Western Evangelical Missionary society, which sup- 
ported the missionaries spoken of above until 1848, when it gave up its distinc- 
tive life and work to the American Missionary Association wliich had been or- 
anized two years before. 

From this digression we turn to a later date and follow Mr. Spencer to a 
more distant field, St. Joseph's, in what is now North Dakota, in the Red River 
region, not far from the international boundary. Here in 1852 Benjamin Ter- 
ry, a young Baptist missionary, began labor. But before the close of the sum- 
mer he was, like St. Sebastian according to the legend, "shot full of arrows." 
The hostile Sioux did the murder and scalped their victim. It was with diffi- 
culty that his associate secured permission to bury the body in the "consecrated" 
earth of the Roman Catholic cemetery. As if a burial jdace could have a truer 
consecration than to receive the dust of one slain in carrying Christ's message 
to souls in darkness ! 

To the place thus marked with blood, came Revs. Alonzo Barnard and D. 
B. Spencer, already named, their wives and children. With them came an 
elderly associate. The party arrived, 1853, June 1st. "They came thither," 
says the narrator,'-^ ''in carts from the vicinity of Cass and Red Lakes, Minne- 
sota, where for ten years they had labored among the Chippewas as mission- 
aries of the American Board. ^ They removed to St. Joseph (now Walhalla) 
at the earnest request of Governor Alexander Ramsey, of Minnesota, and oth- 
ers familiar with their labors and the needs of the Pembina natives. Mrs. 
Barnard died 1853, October 25th, of cpiick consumption, as the result of ten 
years of suffering and exposure for the welfare of the Indians. 

1 Under date of 1843, July 21st, Rev. P. Y. Sprout wrote from La Pointe: "Mr. and Mrs 
Ayer are here. They are goint? on to R'-d Lake, and with th(nn a reinforcement of missiona- 
ries." Tliese may have been a party sent out from Olu-rliii, lor thence to Red Lake there 
came tliat year Rev. Alonzo Barnard and wife, and 8. (t. WriB:lit. 

^ RiV. R. .1. ("reswell, in the " New York Observer." 

* An error: The .\meriian Missionary Association. 



164 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

" Late in 1854 the hostile Sioux were infesting the Pembina region. Mrs. 
Spencer arose at night to care for her sick babe. She heard a noise at the 
window. She withdrew the curtain to discover the cause. Three Indians stood 
there with loaded guns and fired. Three balls took effect, one in her breast 
and two in her throat. She neither cried out nor fell, but, reeling to the bed 
with the infant child still in her arms, knelt down, where she was soon discov- 
ered by her husband when he returned from barricading the door. She lin- 
gered several hours before she died. When the neighbors came in in the morn- 
ing, they beheld a most distressing scene. Mr. Spencer sat as in a dream, hold- 
ing his dead wife in his arms. The poor babe lay in the cradle near by, his 
clothing saturated with his mother's blood. The two elder children stood near 
by, terrified and weeping. The friendly half-breeds came in and cared for the 
children, and prepared the dead mother for burial. A half-breed dug the grave 
and nailed together a rude box for a coffin ; then, with broken voice and bleed- 
ing heart, the poor man assigned to the friendly earth the mortal remains of 
his murdered wife." The babe thus baptized in his mother's blood is now a 
Congregational minister in Illinois. 

From these serenes of blood we turn to a happier subject, the creation of a 
literature in a language in which men can not blaspheme the name of God. 
" There is no word in the Ojibway language expressive of a profane oath," says 
Mr. Warren. In the report of the mission given at the [Hartford] meeting of 
the Board in 1836, we have given the names of five books printed in the Ojib- 
way language during the year." The list does not include "the gospel of Luke 
translated into the Ojibway language by Mr, Hall, assisted by a native young 
man" [Henry Blatchford]. This is spoken of as "now ready for the press," 
Mr. Hall carried on this work of translation until he had made from the Greek 
an excellent version of the New Testament. In this work he had the advan- 
tage of the prior but less accurate translations made by Dr. James. The story 
of publication is thus told by Secretary Edward W. Gilnian, of the American 
Bible Society: 

"The Annual Report of this Society for 1844 announced that this work 
[the Ojibway Testament] whicli had been translated with much pains by the 
Rev. Mr. Hall and others, missionaries of the American Board near Lake Su- 
perior, was in course of publication under the inspection of Mr. Hall. The 
Report for 1857 said that a new edition of the Testament had been printed, 
which had been revised and carried through the press by the Rev. Sherman 
Hall, of Minnesota, who was for many years a missionary among the Ojibways. 
Another edition was published in 1875, but I am not aware that any material 
change was made in it. 

"Among other Scriptures m Ojibway, or Chippewa, I note these: Mat- 
thew, York, 1831. Genesis, Toronto, 1835. New Testament, Toronto, 1854. 
The Chippewa Testament printed at Albany in 1833 is said to have been made 
by Edwin James, assisted by John Tanner. The Toronto Genesis was Peter 
Jones's, and his Matthew is said to have been reprinted by the American Board 




<=/. ftAAfUcL 



cyir- , 



AMONG THE OJ IB WAYS. 1(55 

in 1839, Luke is said to have been issued by that Board in 1837, from a ver- 
sion made by George Copway and Mr. Hall. It is impossible to tell how far 
any one individual contributed to the grand result." 

In 1841 Rev. Leonard Hemenway Wheeler and wife, Rev. Woodbridge 
L. James and wife, and Abigail Spooner came to the La Pointe mission. Mr. 
and Mrs. James did not long remain. Miss Spooner rendered years of service. 
It is no disparagement to the other laborers there to say that Mr. Wheeler was 
the first among equals. ''It is safe to say," writes Edwin Ellis, M. D., of Ash- 
land, who personally knew him, "that no man was ever more thoroughly devoted 
to the work of rescuing the Indian from barbarism, vice, and degradation, than 
was Mr. Wheeler. His primary object was to preach Christ, but he saw clear- 
ly that the Indian must be civilized or exterminated. When unscrupulous and 
grasping n)en were to rob and wrong the Red men, his watchful eye and sound 
judgment saw the danger and, like the old caviller without fear and without re- 
proach, he raised his voice and used his pen for their defence. His intercession 
in their behalf was usually productive of essential good, for those that knew 
him knew that truth and justice were at his back, and that it was not safe to 
take up the gauntlet against so unselfish a champion. It was not for himself 
that he plea<led but for those who could not defend themselves." 

They needed a defender. In 1842, when the value of the copper deposits 
on the southern shore of Lake Superior began to be known, the Indians of that 
region made a treaty with the United States government, selling their land, but 
reserving their right of occupancy. It would seem that both they and the gov- 
ernment commissioner, Robert Stuart, Esq., long an honored member of the 
church at Mackinaw and sincerely their friend, thought the whites would want 
nothing of the country save the right of mining in it. It ai)pears that the In- 
dians thought that this was all they granted, and for a time nothing more was 
asked. 

During these years of tranquility the work of the mission made good pro- 
gress. As is everywhere the case, the missionaries had a great variety of 
duties. Thus Rev. Alfred Brunson, well known in connection with the history 
of Methodism in Wisconsin, who for a time was Indian agent, tells of medical 
care done by Mr. Wheeler to the needy people among whom he labored. 

Here, in our story of honorable service, we may link Mr. Brunson 's name 
with that of Father Clark, whose work among the Indians has been already 
ment. But to know well what they did we turn back to the record of a work 
that antedates their own. "In 1819, John Steward, a free colored man, com- 
menced a successful religious and educational work among the Wyandots, on 
the upper Sandusky. The influence of this effort extended over into Canada, 
to others of the Hurons. John Sunday and Peter Jones, of the Ojibway tribe 
were converted and became active helpers. This was in 1823. In 1830, and 
onward, we find John Sunday and George Copway and others, going on mis- 
sionary tours on Lake Superior. In 1833, they established a suc<;essful and 
permanent mission at L'Anse, on Keweenaw bay, in Micliigan. Here was com- 



Ifif) IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

menced a eivilif-ed and Christian community — the Indians laying hy their an- 
nuity money, after 1842, to enter their hinds as white men. Of these and of 
other niissions. Rev. John Clark, whose headquarters were at Sault Ste. Marie, 
was the superintendent." ' 

Under Mr. Clark's direction, George Copway and two associates, John 
Tounchy and Peter Marksman, were sent to what is now the Lac Court Oreilles 
reservation. This movement was not immediately followed by the establish- 
ment of a mission. "The next summer (July, 183G), Mr. Clark visited the 
place himself, was treated very kindly by the chief, Moo-zoo-jeele (Moose Tail), 
and accomplished his object. He left Copway and Tounchy in charge of the 
mission, and made his way to the Mississippi, about two hundred miles above 
Prairie du Chien. Here he met Rev. A. Brunson, who," — and here I turn from 
the narrative of Mr. Bennett"^ again to that of Dr. Riggs, "had become inter- 
ested in the Indians of the Northwest by reading Lieutenant Allen's account of 
his voyage with Schoolcraft, when in search of the head of the Mississippi. 
He communicated this interest to the Conference at its meeting in July. 1835, 
and, receiving an appointment to the work, he immediately set out on horse- 
back and traveled through the states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and up to 
Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien." Under Mr. Brunson's supervision a mis- 
sion among the Sioux was established at Little Crow's village, Kaposia, on the 
west side of the Mississippi, ''six or eight miles" below Fort Snelling. To 
man this station he drew upon the one established by John Clark at Lac Court 
Oreilles. In this service we find again the names of George Copway and Peter 
Marksman. The third was a John Johnson.^ "The Sioux could hardly be- 
lieve that they were Ojibways, for they Worked, they said, like Frenchmen."'' 
From this mission at Kaposia dates the history of Methodism in Minnesota. 
It was not sustained, financially, as it .should have been, but in time, with 
transfer of place, became the beginning of a work among the whites. Mr. 
Clark left the upper lake region in 1886, and some years afterward (1841) 
went to Texas to engage once more in frontier missionary service. 

In becoming an Indian agent, Mr. Brunson did not cease to have a hearty 
interest in mission work. However, he was not judicial in his cast of mind, 
and his manuscript reports of service as agent are prolix to a degree that is dis- 
couraging to the one who remembers the brevity of human life. He comjilains 
(1843, Septend)er) that government money (tribal annuities) was unfairly dis- 
tributed among the schools of the different missions, those of the American 
Board with 91 pupils receiving $1000; those of the Methodist with 121 pupils 

' Steplien Return Ri(?gs, D. D., "Minnesota Historical Collections," volume VI., part 2, 
pages 135, 130. 

2 " Metliodisin in Wisconsin," patves 17, IH. - 

» Mr. .lohn.son, whose Indian name was Enmetjahbowli. afterward entered the ministry 
of the Protestant Episcopal church and engatred in mission work under direction of Bisliop 
Whipple. 

4 Dr. S. R. Riggs. The remark which h«' quotes, was probably meant for a compliment, 
though, considering what class of Frenchmen the Sioux had met, it .seems like a .somewhat 
dubious one. 



AMONG THE OJIIJW AYS. 1U7 

receiving only $750, and the Romanists with no pupils receiving $250. But as 
this money was tribal annuities it was probably due in varying amounts to the 
different bands of Indians. What statement others, from a different ])oint of 
view, would have made, I can not say. ^ 

When Mr. Wheeler came to La Pointe "the Indians spent their time in 
hunting and hshing and, as Mr. Wheeler mingled among them and studied their 
customs, he became thoroughly convinced that no permanent good could be done 
the Indians until these roaming habits were broken up."- Moreover, the long 
reign of the fur-trader in the old Northwest was drawing to an end. Of the 
change tliat followed the oj)ening of the mines in the Lake Superior region, Dr. 
Riggs thus writes: ''The influx of white settlers brought evil more than good 
to the Ojibways. The men wlio came to work tlie mines were neither religious, 
nor very moral, as a class, and tlieir influenc^e upon the Indians was, in the first 
instance, debasing. At every point plenty of lire-water came into the country, 
and thus the red men were tempted too strongly on their weakest side." It 
was desirable that the Indians leave La Pointe and, apart from the whites, 
found an agricultural comnuinity. 

Across the south channel of Chetpiamegon Hay from La Pointe is a tract 
of land which on account of its rich bottom, large rice fields, extended "sugar 
buslies," abundant fisheries and remoteness from white settlements, Mr. Stuart 
noticed, in 1842 as jjossessing advantages for an Indian reservation that no 
other point in that region had. Mr. AVheeler believing that for Indians, — and 
white men as well, — industry is a necessary part of Christianity, determined to 
found an agricultural settlement. This he established on the Mashkesil)i,'* or 
liad river, and named " Odanah," an Ojibway word meaning " village." Thither 
he removed 1845, May 1st. Mr. Hall remained at La Pointe until 1853 when 
he removed to Crow Wing, on the Mississippi. 

Among the Indians in this new settlement Mr. Wheeler established civil 
government. He aided in the same service among the whites, holding, after La 
Pointe county was organized, various offices which increased his responsibilities 
rather than his income. Nor did he forget the spiritual needs of the whites. 
He was the first to i)reacli at Ashland, and probably at Hayfield. We quote 
again from Dr. P^Uis who wrote in 1874. "Amid all tlie trials and discourage- 
ments of Ashland's early settlers, he was ever ready to offer words of encour- 
ment and cheer. In its darkest periotls he prophesied of Ashland's final suc- 

^ VVf arc Mr. Bniusoii's debtors for ii table of distiiiicos that sii(?gests one of the dillicul- 
ties ill llie work of all the Ojibway niissioii.s: 
From La Pointe to Fond du La<". '.•<) miles. 
From Fond du Lac to Sandy Lake, 150 miles. 

" to ("row Wilier, l.^o miles. 

" " " " to Poketfuma, ir>0 miles. 

to Chippewa Falls, ir>o miles. 

From Chippewa Falls to La Point(^ 250 miles. 
Evidently thes.^ titjiir.^s ar j appro.ximate rather thin exact. 
'^ " Bibliopraphy of the Alyronquian LaiiMTuages," by .James Constantine Pillins. 
•■' From //t((.s-AATef/, a marsh, and .v/c/u or zee'x', a river. In pronouncing, Kive tlie letter i 
its sliort souikI. 



168 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

cess, and his words were influential in including some of us to hold on when 
otherwise we should have given up in despair. He was a frequent visitor among 
us in those early days, and his social influence was purifying and ennobling. 
He participated in the first public celebration ever held in Ashland, July 4th, 
1856. He was a man of much mechanical ingenuity ; and during his residence 
at Odanah he invented a wind-mill which has since been patented under the 
name of the Eclipse Wind-Mill, a very useful invention, which is now exten- 
sively used all over the United States and to some extent in Europe." 

Soon after Mr. Wheeler's removal to Odanah, perhaps the following year, 
a log school house was erected which was used also as a place of worship until 
a commodious chapel was built in 1853. 

About 1850 came a determined effort to compel the Indians to remove 
west of the Mississippi. Their annuities for that year were paid at Fond du 
Lac,i whence Mr. Ely had removed in February of the proceeding year. - Mr. 
Wheeler could not advise the Indians to refuse to do what the goverjiment com- 
manded but he did not conscientiously advise removal. "They appear to be 
fully determined," he wrote at a later date, "to remain on the shores of Lake 
Superior, and even forego their annuities, if the government choose to withhold 
them." This for two years they were obliged to do. 

In the winter of 1850-51 "Mr. Wheeler, being on a visit to New Eng- 
land, went with one of the secretaries of the Board, Rev. S. B. Treat, to Wash- 
ington, to represent to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs the desirableness and 
propriety of permitting these Indians to remain on the shores of Lake Supe- 
rior. On his return to Bad River [Odanah] in the spring, he could not give 
the Indians any assurance that the government would comply with their request 
to remain; but he could tell them that the only possible conditions on which 
they could stay were that tliey should adopt the dress and liabits of white 
people. 

"This information and advice had a good effect. The Indians were put 
on their character. They planted more. They did not make dances. They 
sent their children to school, and they themselves came to church. And they 
greatly abstained from intoxicating drinks." 

And yet in 1851 the pressure to compel removal was made stronger than be- 
fore. It need scarcely be said that there was a corrupt "Indian ring" back of 
this effort, and it will cause no surprise to say that a man who afterward held 
the office of United States senator from Minnesota was a member thereof. In 
this year Messrs. Hall and Wheeler made a tour of exploration in the country 
to which it was proposed that the Lake Superior Ojibways should go. They 
left La Pointe June 5tli and returned July 11th. Mr. Wheeler returned with 
the conviction that it would be a deed oi- mercy on the part of the government 
to shoot the Indians rather than to send them to the new region assigned them 
where they would be exposed to the fury of their relentless enemies, the Sioux. 

^ Dr. Riggs says " at Sandy Lake," and adds: "Some went and some did not: and those 
who wont fared the worst, as thi^ provisions were scanty and poor." 

- It would seem tliat Fond du Lae had again been made a mi.ssion station. 



AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. 1U9 

111 1<S52 the dismal struggle continued. The United States agent pioin- 
ised the Ir.diaus that he wouUl support theni for one year at the expense of the 
government if they would remove to Fond du Lac. He permitted gamhling 
and violation of the Sahhath by men under his control. To destroy liquor held 
ill violation of law, ho sent men who themselves got drunk upon it. 

A letter written at La Pointe 1853. duly llth, by Mrs. NVheelcr to her 
parents draws to tlie following gloomy picture : 

'•The last winter was one of the most di^eary, lonely and trying ones we 
have ever spent in the country. The breaking up of the mission here and the 
unsettled and confused state of Indian affairs threw a gloom over the future. 
Often did I flee into my bed-room to hide the tears I could not control. The 
heat and burden of the day press heavily upon my dear husband. He has 
grown old fast since we returned from the East and I sometimes look anxiously 
forward to the future. He is obliged to attend to all the secular affairs of our 
station, and has charge of the property of the Board here, oversees all our own 
and the Indians' farming, — : giving out their seed, plowing their ground, etc. 
He is doctor for both places [Odanah and La Pointe] chairman of the board of 
county commissioners, besides numberless other things too small to mention per- 
haps, but which nevertheless break in upon his time and divert his mind from 
his more a])propriate work. To human appearance our people were never in a 
better condition to profit by the preaching of the gospel. We think thert; is 
hardly a possibility of removing them. They are fully determined not to go. 
They have lived two years without their {)ayments and find that they do not 
starve or freeze. Indeed I doubt very much whether there is a band of Chi])- 
pewas beyond the Mississippi, with all their annuities, that are as well fed and 
clothed as ours are." 

Again Mrsl Wheeler writes from the same place: 

"October 20th. 1853. — Will you believe me when I tell you that we are 
just in the midst of the bustle and excitement of payment!' America does not 
contain a happier company than is congregated on this island to-night. I have 
been out this eve to some of the lodges of rejoice with those who i*ejoice. The 
payment is one of the best that has ever been made. It took us all by surprise." 

'•October 29, 1853. -I will add [it is Mr. Wheeler who writes] a few 
lines bef(n'e the boat leaves. We are expecting to leave for Bad river to-mor- 
I'ow where we shall spend the winter. It is now almost certain that no farther 
attempts will be made to remove our Indians. There is little doubt that the old 
order of things will be restored; that the farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths will 
be given back to them, and missionaries be encouraged to go on with their la- 
bors as formerly. The late efforts to remove the Indians have not only proved 
a failure, but are now clearly seen by the Department at Washington to have 
originated with a few designing men who wanted the Indians removed that they 
might get their money. An astonishing anuuint of fraud has been discovered 
iind the former agent is now under arrest to answer for some of his villainous 
conduct. The Lord reigns." 



170 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

It will be noticed that these letters are written from La Pointe. Mr. Hall 
with family and assistants, removed in June of that year (1853) to Crow Wing, 
Minnesota, whither they arrived in the following month. Promises made by 
one agent were not fulfilled by his successor and this movement proved a fail- 
ure. Mr. Hall entered home missionary service among the whites. 

As a suggestion of the need that still existed of missionary work I quote 
from a letter written from La Pointe, 1853, August 31st, by Mr. Wheeler's eld- 
est son, then a boy of ten: 

" I was going to tell you about an Indian funeral. Julia was writing about 
it, but she did not tell what the Indians said in their speeches to the dead child. 
I understood them, so I will tell you some as near as I can remember. Old 
Buffalo, the first chief, made his speech first and told the child it would take 
him two days to get to the spirit land, and before he got there his friends would 
would come to meet him, and that the fishes would jump into his canoe and 
would be his food, and when he got to the mouth of the Bad river he would 
hear the roar of the guns of the spirit land and his friends would come and 
meet him and would be his playmates. One of them said, 'Once I shot a 
Frenchman and blowed his brains out. Then I cut off a piece of his flesh and 
eat it, and it was very good and you may have the same for your food on your 
journey.' " Perhaps this is the last trace of genuine cannibalism in Wisconsin. 

The medical resources of the mission were taxed in February and March, 
1854, by an epidemic of small-pox. However, this enemy proved to be a com- 
paratively easy one to grapple with. 

Mr. Wheeler's ideas of justice towai'd the Ojibway Indians were substan- 
tially embodied in a treaty made with them, 1854, September 30th, by which 
three reservations were provided for, — at Odanah, where he had n\ade a settle- 
ment so many years before, at Lac Court Oreilles and at Lac du Flambeau. 
The action of Agent Henry Gilbert, who framed the treaty, was approved by 
Commissioner Manypenny who came to Odanah the following season. Both 
were honest men, and preferred the counsel of the missionaries to that of the 
Indian traders. The commissioner soon found himself honored with the ill- 
will of the latter class. "Mr. Wheeler," he said on one occasion, "these trail- 
ers would like to hang us both." To have the government give the head of 
each Indiau family eighty acres of land, and to induce the Indians to settle up- 
on farms and improve them, were favorite projects with Mr. Wheeler. In 
short, he anticipated what enlightened public sentiment now demands as the only 
just and sensible method of dealing with the Indians. 

From the first establishment of the mission, much was made of school 
work. At Mrs. Wheeler's first coming to La Pointe, her direct service to the 
mission was in the line of teaching. From her school Mr. Baraga, afterward 
"bishop," was at the pains, on two separate occasions, to have the children of 
Roman Catholic families removed on accouut of religious exercises, the chief 
feature of which was the use in common of the Lord's prayer. But it was 
hard to keep the children away and their mistaken spiritual guide did not fully 



AMONG THE OJIBWAYS. 171 

succeed in doing so. Notwithstanding his action, the missionaries of the two 
creeds remembered that they were all Christians, and the two bishops, — such in 
truth they were, — Baraga and Wheeler, met more than once even in prayer. 

For years it was a cherished plan with Mr. Wheeler to establish a board- 
ing-school into which children could be gathered from wigwam life. Part of 
the story of his success, and some account of the labor involved in the school, 
is thus told by Rev. D. Irenaeus Miner, now of Hayward, Wisconsin : 

"In May, 1859, Miss Jennie L. Cooley and I were united in marriage 
and, about the first of June following, started by steamer from Cleveland, Ohio, 
to join the mission forces at Bad river, Wisconsin. The missionaries then on 
the ground were Rev. and Mrs. L. H. Wheeler and Henry Blatchford. The 
building for the boarding-school was taken going up, and was completed that 
summer, so that we commenced taking in boys and girls as boarding-scholars in 
the fall of that same year. My duties from the first were teaching the school 
and looking after the work of the boys out of school hours till evening, when 
Rev. D. B. Spencer, who joined us about the opening of the fall term, took the 
boys under his care. Mrs. Miner had charge of the manufacturing of the 
clothing for both boys and girls, had the task of instructing the girls in sewing, 
and the entire care of the girls out of school hours, except while they were 
working in the kitchen, until Miss Rhoda Spicer joined us as assistant teacher." 

As the burden proved to be too great for Mrs. Miner, she and her hus- 
band, in June, 1861, gave up their work at Odanah. This Wisconsin mission- 
ary family has sent in later years a daughter to the work in China. Mr. Spen- 
cer in the spring of 1863, sought another field of labor and in 1864 the mis- 
sion had a bit of romance in the marriage of Miss Spicer to the young man 
who as a boy gave an account, ten years before, of an Indian child's funeral. 

For many years the Odanah boarding-school afforded the best educational 
facilities that the Wisconsin Ojibways have yet enjoyed. It was judged worthy 
of governmental recognition and aid. 

But with the realization of his cherished hope came an ominous change in 
Mr. Wheeler's health. A hemorrhage from the lungs in the spring of 1859 
warned him that he nmst never again sleep out of doors in the bitter cold of a 
Lake Superior winter night with the thermometer at twenty-eight degrees below 
zero. He must take no more journeys that would bring him home with feet 
bleeding from cuts made by the thongs of his snow-shoes. Yet his work was 
not done. 

The years of the war were yeai-s of anxiety and danger. The little mis- 
sion church of Odanah matle ib» offering of precious life. The rascality of cer- 
tain officials in dealing with the Indians threatened serious disturbance. Mr. 
Wheeler went to warn the government of impending danger. While he was 
gone the wSioux outbreak occurred in Minnesota (August. 1862) and an embassy 
came to stir up his own people to revolt. But these remained loyal to the in- 
fluence and teaching of the missionaries. They wished even to raise a com- 
pany to help the Great Father in Washington subdue his enemies, with the par- 



172 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

tioulav thought, it may he. of making war a])on their own traditional enemies, 
tlie Sioux. But it was not thought hest tliat they should engage in warfai-e or 
be led to believe that their Great Father could not do without their help. An 
Ojibway delegation visited President Lincoln in 18(i4 and were nnich gratified 
by his evident interest in them and their cause. When his great heart was still 
in death no tears were more sincere than theirs. 

" Why was he at tliat play-house 'i Why did his young men let an enemy 
come so near him?" These were their lamentations repeated again and again. 

After serving, for a (juarter-eentury, those whom so many despise and 
wrong. Mr.' W^heeler's special labors in their behalf came to an end in October, 
186G. The wasting of consumption compelled removal and left him but six 
years of life. These were spent at Beloit in establishing the mamlfacture of 
the wind-mill already referred to. It was invented the spring before his re- 
moval while he was crippled with a broken wrist and while his eldest son who 
aided him in the work was lame from an injury to the knee. This invention pro- 
vided su])port for his family and education for his children. 

Up to the time (1869) of the re-union of the old-school anrl the new-schf>ol 
bi'anches of the Presbyterian church the latter division did its foreign jnission- 
ary work through the American Board. Thereafter this work was done through 
the Presbyterian Board to which, in justice, certain missions were transferrer!, 
among therri, in 1870, the one at Odanah. The missionary then and still in 
charge, Henry Blatchford, is an Indian of mixed race, educated in the mission 
school at Mackinaw and named in honor of the father of the vice-president of 
the American Board. We have heard of him as one of the translators of the 
Ojibway Testament. He thus wrote under date of March 1st. 1890: 

"When this church was first organized, i the membership was up to 75 mem- 
bers, but in about two years from the time it was organized some began to drop 
off by joining an Indian dance, and some have died. Our people are not here 
the year round, they have to go and work in the logging camps. But wiien 
they are all here we have a full attendance. I am getting old and am troubled 
with the congestion of the brain and am weak. I am now on my seventy- 
seventh year. In June next I will have reached my seventy-eiglith year. And 
I have been connected with this missionary field fifty-five years without ces- 
sation." 

Some years ago the Presbyterian Board sold the mission school pvojierty 
upon \vliich Mr. Wheeler bestowed so much j)]anniug and labor. By another 
])urchase this fell into the hands of the Roman Catholics who have so much of 
the benefits of Mr. Wheeler's judgnuMit and foresight. Their mi.ssion is now 
apparently the mor«' pro.^jperous of the two and, (tut of the gift made by Miss 
Caftherine Drexel for Indian education, 7s certaiidy better supported.. 



' Hp refers to the rcortiaiiiziitioii alrt-ady iiotod. Tliis lottcr is reiiiivrkablo for tlw stoadi- 
noRsand lcMril>ility <>f th»' haixl writing Ttte ixMuliaritit'K of expression I leave unchaiiKOfl. 
He Kivestlie ineinbersliip at tliat (lat<' as forty se^ en. tlie poimlation between ti\c hundred 
and six liiindred. 



AMONG THE OJIBAVAYS. 17^ 

Father Baraga, having been made first bishop of Marquette, Michigan 
(consecrated 1853, November let), withdrew personally from the Odanah mis- 
sion years before his death. This occurred 1868, January 19th. Of this 
worthy pastor, but without reference to his death, the late James Parton thus 
wrote : 

"T have had the pleasure, once in my life, of conversing with an absolute 
gentleman : one in whom all the little vanities, all tlie little greedinesses, all the 
paltiy fuss, worry, affectation, haste, and anxiety springing from imperfectly 
disciplined self-love, — all had been consumed; and the whole man was kind, 
serene, urbane, and utterly sincere. This perfect gentleman was a Roman 
Catholic bishop, who had spent thirty years of his life in the woods near Lake 
Superior, trying (and failing, as he frankly owned) to convert rascally Chippe- 
ways into tolerable human beings. " I make pretty good Christians of some of 
them," said he; "but meiif No: it is impossible." ^ 

It would be interesting to know how nmch this confession of failure has 
been affected by Mr. Parton's interpretation. 

We return in our narrative to follow Mr. Wheeler to his final rest. To 
him the end of life came on the 22nd of February, 1872. On Sabbath, three 
days afterward, the wasted body of this faithful missionary of the cross was 
borne beneath the cathedral-like arches of the great First church in Beloit 
whence so much precious dust has been carried to the grave. 

"Mr. Wheeler," says Dr. Ellis, "was beloved almost equally by white men 
and red men, by Protestant and Catholic. In the delirium of death he was 
among the members of the native chui'ch at Odanah praying still for their 
preservation from the dangers to which he knew full well they would be ex- 
posed. Time will not fully disclose the value of the results of his labors. 
Those who have known the Indians twenty-five years will agree with me that 
very great progress has been made, and Mr. Wheeler, I believe, more than any 
other man, has contributed to this result, and aided by his labors to raise thou- 
sands from a condition of low and degraded heathenism, if not to a state of 
high civilization, at least to a state far above that in which he found them." 

"God buries his workmen but carries on his work." The great results of 
all missionary and church work are written only in the Book of Life. But 
upon the pages of history, even as men write it, there is honorable place for the 
record of twenty-five years' labor among a once barbarous people, the establish- 
ment of civil government among them, the development of improved plans of 
missionary and educational work, the training of laborers for other fields, the 
founding of a town and the esta])lishment of a successful business carried on in 
the spirit of the Master. 

We may fitly close this portion of narrative with the English form of the 
solemn "covenant" of the churches connected with the Ojibway mission: 

"You do now, in the presence of the heart-searching God, and before an- 
gels and men, choose the Lord Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to be 

' "lAtlantic Monthly." April, 1808. 



^■■^ IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

your God ; the supreme object of your affections, and your portion forever. 
You cordially acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ in all his mediatorial offices, 
Prophet, Priest and King, as your only Saviour and finalJudge ;— and the' 
Holy Spirit, as your Sanctifier, Comforter and Guide. 

"You humbly and cheerfully devote yourself to God in an everlasting cov- 
enant of grace. You consecrate all your powers and faculties to his service 
and glory : and you promise to take the Holy Scriptures as the rule of your life 
and conversation: and that, through the assistance of His Spirit and grace, you 
wiU cleave to Him as your chief good, and that you will give diligent attention 
to his Word and ordinances, to family and secret prayer, to public worship, and 
to the conscientious observance of the Sabbath ;— that you wUl seek the honor 
of his name and the interests of his Kingdom, and that henceforth, denying 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, you will live soberly, righteously, and godly, in 
this present world. 

"You do now cordially unite yourself to this church as a church of Christ, 
promising to submit to its discipline, so far as conformable to the rules of the 
gospel, and you solemnly covenant to promote its edification, purity and peace, 
and to walk with its members in Christian love, faithfulness, circumspection] 
sobriety and meekness. All this you promise to do with humble reliance on the' 
grace of God, and with an affecting belief that your vows are recorded on high, 
and will be reviewed in the day of judgment. 

" Thus you solemnly covenant, promise and engage !" " 
Response in behalf of the church : 

"We do now receive you into our communion and fellowship, and we pro- 
mise to watch over you with Christian affection and tenderness, ever treating 
you in love as a member of the body of Christ, who is head over all things in 
the church. This we do, earnestly imploring the great Shepherd of Israel, our 
Lord and Redeemer, that both you and we may have wisdom and grace to be 
faithful in his covenant, and to glorify him with that holiness which becometh 
his house for ever. Amen," 



CHAPTEI^ XII. 

BY THE MIZI SlBI.i 

In the structure of colonial intercourse that the French built in North 
America, the Fox- Wisconsin route may be described as the key of an arch, one 
of whose abutments rested on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the other on the Gulf 
of Mexico. Accordingly the early history of this region stands related not only, 
as we have seen, to that of New France, or Canada, but also to that of Louisi- 
ana. Apparently the line of demarkation between these provinces was not well 
defined and the authorities of the two came often into somewhat of conflict. 

White settlement on the lower Mississippi had almost its beginning in John 
Law's knavish scheme. Nor did the new colony escape the curse of slavery. 
This was permitted and regulated by a decree of Louis XV. "given at Ver- 
sailles, in the year of Grace one thousand seven hundred and twenty-four." 

While most of this decree is taken up with matters regarding to slavery, 
— in which respect it seems to be neither better nor worse than its time,— it 
contains certain other commands that make the expression - year of Grace " 
seem like bitter irony. The -precise orders "i given by Louis XIII. "that no 
Huguenot should settle in New France "2 find their counterpart in this decree 
issued almost a century later by his great-great-grandson. 

Here is the bidding of »his Most Christian Majesty." "the eldest son of 
the church." etc.: 

t . i.^*l!;'^^f•'''T"'''■'''n^''''»^''^ ^*'*' Mississippi asthe Fafh.rof Wafers, butinvariably refer 
t. It as ^/,. yy,^ liner, fhe Wnu.ebaj^oes called it yee-koouts-J/uh-to-ka/i^ the former part 
of that co.upoun.l word nieaninj, river, and />ah-fa.kr,h. large. The Sioux called it Ual-pa- 
Touya; ^cat p., river, multan^fju, larKe. The Sauks designated it >iH Me-rha-Sa,.,; the Me- 

ZvL''',/ % '•"'';/''", ^'"''■^^r'- ■"''-•''-*'-/^^- t»'« <'l.iPPewas, Afe-ze-Zeie: and the 
Ottawas. .\h.s.sts-SerM. Me-diu. nie-ehe, me-ze, and „us-si., all mean the sa.ne thing- large or 
his:iiiM\m-,,o,seimu,se-fte,ze-he2inA «-/./. all mean river."-B. W. Brisbois Ilhf <'„U IX 
Ignorant as I am of the Algonquian language, in the Ojibway or any other dialect. I am 
convinced that Mississippi" does not mean simply the -great river.- but that Mr. W. H 
W heeler of Beloit is substantially correct in translating it as the "everywhere river." This 
heathrms from his own knowledge of the language. But any one of us <-an get an Ojibway 
lestameut In reading this, we are to remember that the vowels are used according to the 
I-renchor German, rather than an English, system of orthoepy. Thus nuzi is pronoun,-ed 
>aee-zee, with the last syllable shortene.l perhaps, in time of utterance. This word seen.s to 
have the meaning of "every" m relation to place. We tin.l it in Luke IX. «, where the 
locative sense is apparent, and in Philippians IV. 12. where the tra,.slatoi-s of t le Ojibway 
lestament may have followed the Authorized Version in its rendering of the Greek e. panti 
V/,^,,.e (mee-zee-way),n the .sen.se of " everywhere - is found in Acts XVII.:ioand XXVIII 
.'.: in 1. C..r. TV 17. ami II. Timothy II. h. Kr,: is the Ojibway word for -groat "or "large'' 



176 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

" Article I. — We enjoin the directors general of said company, ^ and all 
our officers, to remove from said country all the Jews who may have taken up 
their abode there- — the departure of whom, as declared enemies of the Chris- 
tian name, we command within three months, including the day when these 
presents are published, under pain of forfeiture of their bodies and estates. 

"Article III. [First Part]. — We prohibit any other religious rites than 
those of the Apostolic Roman Catholic church ; requiring that those who violate 
this shall be punished as rebels disobedient to our commands." 

With the colony thus inauspiciously begun, the western part of what 
is now Wisconsin, had easy communication by way of the Mississippi. This in 
the early time was not regarded as a line of division. Thus it was on the east 
side of the Great River, at Post St. Antoine,^ that Nicholas Perrot, who in 
1685 had been appointed "commandant of the West,"^ formally took possession 
1689, May 8th. in the name of the French king, of the entire region drained 
by the St. Peter or Minnesota, the St. Croix and the upper Mississippi. Seven 
years previously, — 1682, March 14th, and April 9th, — La Salle had taken pos- 
session of the lower Mississippi region. Indeed, he then laid claim to the whole 
country "along the river Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge 
themselves therein from its source." So that Perrot's ijvoces-verhal was, in a 
sense, merely supplementary to the more extensive claim- made by La Salle.* 

Thus early and in this interesting way is the history of the western part 
of Wisconsin connected with that of Louisiana, — ^the vast Louisiana that was 
but an official name for the valley of the Mississippi, — a name not restricted to 
the region on the westward side of the Great River until after the treaty of 
Paris in 1763. 

But early exjilorations in the upper part of this vast region, — those of 
Radisson, Joliet, Perrot and others, — were made by jjarties that descended the 
Wisconsin rather than by those that ascended the Mississippi. Soon both routes 
came to be commonly used and France possessed in North America, a water- 
way the extent of which equaled the breadth of oceans, — a water-way that, as 
we have seen, offered, in the interior, more courses than one to the trader and 
explorer. Of these, none was traversed more frequently than that by way of 
the Fox and the Wisconsin. Hence, after their long and disastrous war with the 
French, it was "with characteristic sagacity," as Mr. Hebberd remarks, that 
the Outagamies selected the site of Prairie du Chien as that whereon they 
could still use most effectively whatever of power was left them. 

Of this place Captain Jonathan Carver gives some account in his famous 
book, " Three Years' Travels throughout the Interior Parts of North America." 

1 The "Company of the Indies," established 1717. August, under the management of the 
famous Jolni Law. 

== The site of wliich is on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Pepin and between the villages of 
Stockholm find Pepin. 

* The winter following he spent at an encampment near the majestic bluflf that has 
given name to the village of Trempealeau See page 134. 

4 We must remember, however, that Perrot held his commission, not from La Salle, but 
from the authorities of New France. 



BY THE MIZI Sim. 177 

Thus begins his ''Journal:" "In June, 1766, I set out from Hoston, and 
proceeded by way of Albany and Niagara to Michilliuiackinac, ^ a fort situated 
between the lakes Huron and Michigan, and distant from Boston 1300 miles." 
This place he left on the 3rd of September, and " on the 18th arrived at fort 
La Bay. * * On the 20th of September I left the Green Bay. 

* * On the 25th I arrived at the great town of the Winnebagoes, situ- 

ated on a small island,^ just as you enter the east end of the lake Winnebago. 
Here the queen who presided over this tribe instead of a Sachem, received me 
with great civility, and entertained me in a very distinguished manner, during 
the four days I continued with her. ■'^ * * On the 7th of October [we] ar- 
rived at the great Carrying Place [Portage], which divides it [the Fox river] 
from the Ouisconsin. * * On the 15th of October, we entered that exten- 
sive river, the Mississippi." We may presume that on the same day he arrived 
at Prairie du Chien. Thither the people had come, they told him, about thirty 
years before from a place not far distant which had been their home but which 
the Great Spirit, speaking in an audible voice, had told them that he wished for 
himself. Carver supposes that the Indians were victims of some trick played 
by French or Spaniards. "The people soon after their removal," he continues, 
built a town near the Ouisconsin at a place called by the French La Prairie des 
Chiens, which signifies the Dog Plains; it is a large town and contains about 
three hundred families. I saw here many horses of a good size and shape. 
This toVn is the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and even those who 
inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about 
the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the trad- 
ers. But it is not always that they conclude the sale here ; this is determined 
by a general council of the chiefs, who consult whether it would be more con- 
ducive to their interest, to sell their goods at this place or carry them to Louisi- 
ana, or Michilimackinac. According to the decision of this council, they either 
proceed further, or return to their different homes." 

Before the permanent settlement of Prairie du Chien by whites, American 
colonial troops may have come thither. We have already had a report, in Sin- 
clair's letter, of the British expedition which returned to Mackinaw probably in 
May, 1780. From that place in the same year a second expedition was sent, 
perhaps in June, to secure furs left at Prairie du Chien by the traders. Cap- 
tain J. Long, a British Indian-trader, was in command. In their nine canoes 
he and his men carried off about three hundred packs of furs. Sixty packs 
more they burned, probably by setting fire to the buildings'* in which the furs 
had been stored. The reason for this is easily inferred from Long's statement 
that " about five days after our departure we were informed that the Americans 

' Carver's " Michilliuiackinac " is the " old fort " on the southern side of the strait. 

^- The island lying between Neenah and Menasha. 

^ In reference to note 1, p.age 75, it shoulil ba said that Clarver noticed the radical differ- 
ence between the Ojibway language and that of the Winnebagoes. 

♦ This stoi"e-hou8e and the old French " fort " are probably one and the same. The " fort," 
however, may have boon a similar structure of logs built earlier, perhaps as soon as 1745, for 
a like purpose . 



178 IN T'NNA>rED WISCONSIN. 

came to attack us ; but to tlieir extreme mortification we were out of tlieir 
reach." 

NotwithstaiuUng the popular impression that "Prairie du Chien is as ohl 
as Phihidelphia," no evidence appears of permanent settlement there by whites 
prior to 1781. As Prairie du Chien was on one of the great watex'-courses from 
the Upper Lakes to the more distant interior, traders and others from New 
France were often there before any whites made a permanent settlement in the 
place. Some may have remained even for years. 

The first official report by any United States officer in regard to Prairie 
du Chien is by Lieutenant (afterwards Brigadier-General) Zebulon Montgom- 
ery Pike. On the 9th of August, 1805, he left St. Loiiis on an exjjloring ex- 
pedition toward the headwaters of the Mississippi. He reports that, with thi'ee 
houses on the west side of the river, there were in Prairie du Chien and vicin- 
ity thirty-seven in all. "which it will not be too much to calculate at ten persons 
each. * * This calculation will not answer for the sj)ring or autunm 

as there are thfen at least five hundred or six hundred white j)ersons." 

Under date of 1811, Fel)ruary 2nd, Nicholas Boilvin, an Indian agent al- 
re'ady spoken of, made a report to William Eustis, secretary of war : '' Prairie 
du Chiens is an old Indian town which was sold by the Indians to the Cai\adian 
traders about thirty years ago, where they have' ever since rendezvoused, and 
dispersed their merchandise in various directions. Tiie Indians also sold them 
at the same time a tract of land measuring six leagues up and down the river, 
and six leagues back of it. The village contains between thirty and forty 
houses, and on the tract just mentioiied about thirty-two families, so that the 
whole settlement contains about one hundred families. The men are generally 
ti*rencH Canadians, who have nibstly married Indian wives; perhaps not more 
than twelve white females are to be found in the settlement." 

British and Canadian influence continued to be supreme at Prairie du 
Chien until after the war of 1812. We have already had mention of Robert 
Dickson and Lieutenant-Colonel McKay, honorable men both, who as far as 
possible, restrained the Indians from outrages agaiiVst their American enemies. 
On the return of peace the place was evacuated by tlie British 1815, May 24th. 
But it was not until the 21st of June, 1816, that the fort which the Americans 
had named Shelby and the feritisli called McKay was re-occupied by United 
States troops. These w'er^ under command of Colonel Thomas A; Smith, brig- 
adier-general by brevet. He and his men were most unwelcome. They occu- 
l)ied and repaired the old fort, thereafter known as Fort Crawford in honor, of 
William Harris Crawford of Georgia, then secretary of the treasury. In the 
spring of 1817 Colonel Talbot Chambers succeeded Smith. Complaint is made 
that he treated the inhabitants as con(piered people. Probably there was rea- 
son for his doing so. With the subsequent cominanders save one, Colonel 
Zacharv Taylor, afterwartl President, we have na special concern. He suc- 
ceeded Major Stephen Watts Kearney iii 1829, probal)ly in June. 

The old fort stood on low ground as described hereafter. One of stone 



T?Y THE MIZI Sini. 179 

was erected on higher hviul. This was begun in 1830, occuj)ied hy part of the 
troops in 1831, ami completed in 183-. 

Colonel Taylor remained in command until the autumn of 1836 wlien he 
was ordered to Fh)ri(hi to take ])art in tlie Seminole war then raging. 

Among the subordinate otticers at Fort Crawford was the late Jetterson 
Davis, wliose service here was interrupted by that at Foi-t Winnebago. A gar- 
rison was kept at Fort Crawford until tJie 9th of June, 1856. 

With the secure possession of the place by United States troops came 
thither an American population. Among the tirst was James H. Lockwood. 
"On the 16th of September. 1816," lie says, "I arrived at Prairie du Chien, a 
traders' village of between twenty-five and thirty hcnises, situated on the banks 
of the Mississippi on what, in high water, is an island. The houses were built 
by planting posts upright in the ground with grooves in them, so that the sides 
could be tilled in with sjilit timber or round poles, and then plasteretl over with 
day, and whitewashed with a white earth found in the vicinity, and then cov- 
ered with bark, or dap-boards riven from oak. [Mr. Lockwood himself in 
1826 built the first frame house]. 

'•Indian traders, as a class, possess no enterprise, at least none that is of 
any advantage to the settlement and improveujent of a country. Thev are en- 
terprising in going into the unexplored Indian country to traffic, and collect 
furs and peltries; but I have never seen a man who made money in the Indian 
trade apply it to the ordinary improvements that foster and encourage the 
growth of a country. 

" Of all the foreigners that came to this country, the Canadians of French 
extraction seemed to have the least idea of the privileges of American citizen- 
.ship. It appeared almost impossible to instill into their minds anything of the 
independence of self-government, and this was not confined entirely to the un- 
educated, but would apply more or less to the partially educated classes. 

"The eoiif tone de Paris [French law] so far prevailed in this country gen- 
erally, that a j)art of the ceremony of marriage was the entering into a con- 
tract in writing, generally giving, if no issue, the property to the survivor; and 
if they desired to be divorced, they went together before the magistrate and 
made known their wishes, and he, in their presence, tore uj) the marriage con- 
tract, and according to the custom of the country, they were then divorced. I 
was once present at Judge Al)bott"s at Mackinaw when a couple presented them- 
-selves before him and were divorced in this manner. When the laws of Mich- 
igan were first introduced at Prairie du Chien, it was with difficulty that the 
justice of the j)eace could peisuade them that a written contract was not neces- 
sary ; and some of them l»elieved tliat, l)ecause the contract of marriage gave 
the property to the survivor, they were not obliged to pay the debts which the 
deceased owed at the time of his death. 

*• In speaking of the early settlers and their marriage connections, I sliould 
])erhai)s explain a little. In the absence of religious instructions, and it be- 
coming so common to see the Indians use so little ceremony about marriage, the 



180 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

idea of a verbal matrimonial contract became familiar to the early French set- 
tlers, and they generally believed that such a contract of marriage was valid 
without any other ceremony. Many of the women married in this way be- 
lieved, in their simplicity and ignorance, that they were as lawfully the wives 
of the men they lived with, as though they had ])een married with all the cere- 
mony and solemnity possible. 

"In the spring of 1817 a Roman Catholic priest, from St. Louis, called 
Pere Priere,i visited Prairie du Chien. He was the first that had been there 
for many years, and perhaps since the settlement, and organized the Roman 
Catholic church, and disturbed some of the domestic arrangements of the in- 
habitants. He found several women who had left their husbands and were 
living with other men; these he made by the terror of his church to return and 
ask pardon of their husbands, and to be taken back by them, which they of 
course could not refuse. 

"The first Sunday-school established in the place was by my first wife, 
Mrs. Julianna Lockwood.'^ Mrs. Lockwood was raised among the Presbyteri- 
ans or Congregationalists of New England, and early imbibed the strong pre- 
judices of those people against the Roman Catholics, but afterwards, having 
lived in Canada two or three years, and having become intimately acquainted 
with several ladies of that faith, who were apparently good pious people, she 
concluded that there were good and bad among all sects, or denominations, call- 
ing themselves Christians, and her early prejudices in great measure wore off. 
We were married in the summer of the year 1824, and came to Praii-ie du 
Chien in the autumn. There was not at that time any church or meeting to at- 
tend on Sunday. Even the Roman Catholics had a priest visit them only oc- 
casionally, and Mrs. Lockwood, having been accustomed to see the children 
collected in Sunday-schools, and seeing a large number playing about the streets 
on the Sabbath, concluded it would be doing them a good service to gather them 
into a Sunday-school, and proposed to Miss Crawford, a young lady raised in 
the place, who spoke English and French fluently, and who had a good educa- 
tion, to assist her. To this she agreed at once, and tliey influenced Dr. Edwin 
James, surgeon of the United States army, then stationed at Fort Crawford, 
and John H. Kinzie, Esq., formerly of Chicago, then quite a young man, in 
the employment of the American Fur Company at Prairie du Chien, to assist 

^ Under date of 1893, April 2(>th, the Rev. H. Van der Sanvon, chancellor of the [Roman 
Catholic] diocese of St. Louis, wrote : " The priest after whom you inquire can not be any otlier 
than the Rev. Paul de St. Pierre, * * of whom Shea says that he belonged to the Car- 
melite order. * * Prairie du Chien, in my collection of documents is mentioned for 
the first time on September 2i>th, 1832." 

" By the way," writes Secretary R. G. Thwaites, under date of 18!t4, January 13th, " re- 
ferring to the matter of Father Priere, or Pierre, in Wis. Hist. Colls, v. ii., page 127, I ob- 
tained in Prairie du Chien yesterday, the baptismal, marriage, and burial records of the 
Catholic church there, for the years 1817 lH25,""and they an; now before me. The name of 
the officiating prie.st is given for 181t!-l7 as M. Dunaud ; for the other years, there is no priest- 
ly signature. Doesn't this rather upset, at least the year, of Pierre's arrival as given by 
Lockwootl ? " 

^ Sister of L. M. Warren of La Pointe. " She was a noble-hoarted as well as a queonly- 
looking woman ," writes \u'v neplunv. Rev. .). 11. Warren of San Francisco. 



HY THK MIZI SII'.I ISI 

them. They collected the cliildieii, and coinmenced their school in the sj)rintf 
of 1825. and continued it until tlie winter following, but not without opposition. 
As this measure did not originate with Mr. Roulette, ^ he felt bound to oppose it. 
He took what he tliought would be the most effectual mode of sup])ressing it, 
by going to the mothers of the children who attended the school, and represent- 
ing to them that it was tlie design to make Protestants of the children. To 
counteract Mr. Roulette, they introduced and tauglit the children the Roman 
Catholic catechism, finding notliing to their minds very objectionable in it: and 
as I said before, they continued tlieir school until winter, during which time Dr. 
James was ordered to some otlier post. In the s})ring of 1820, my wife and 
myself went to New York ; Miss Crawford accomj)anied us as far as Mackinaw, 
w-liere she remained until she was married. Mr. Kinzie went also to Macki- 
naw, during which time he received an appointment in the Indian department 
under Governor Cass, and went to Detroit to reside. The Sundav-scliool was 
not again resumed, nor was one again attempted in the jtlace until about 1830, 
when the members of the different religious denominations united in forming 
the Union Suuday-school. Fliis continued a few }'ears, until the Methodists, be- 
coming by far the most numerous class, assumed the management of it. since 
which time they have claimed it as a Methodist Sunday-school." 

With a possible exception n(»ted in the history of Green Bay. the Sunday- 
school by Mrs. Lockwood appears to be the first in Wisconsin. We know who, 
in those days, were "the Presbyterians or Congregationalists of New England." 
The work done by Dr. James in connection with the Ojibway mission has been 
mentioned. 

Not only does Prairie du Chien have the honor of the first or second 
Sunday-school in Wisconsin, one of the first day-schools was hers also. The 
teacher was a Willard Keyes who seems to have come from southern Illinois, 
and who probably did notliing more noteworthy in his life than to establish this 
school. He thus speaks of it in a letter dated 1818. June 7th, and addressed 
to Dr. Samuel Andrew Peters : ^ 

'•On tlie 25th ultimo I commenced a school in this village ; have about 
thirty scholars, mostly bright and active, at two dollars a month. I board with 
your old landlord, Mr. Faril)ault.'' but have to regret the loss of your company. 
I have engaged for tlwee montlis. and before the expiration of that time I trust 
your business will be amicably settled with the Indians." 

Under date of Januajy 3rd, 1820, the ex-teacher again addresses Peters: 

''I remained at Prairie du Chien till May. 1819. when. desj)airing of hear- 

' An enemy, or at least a rival, of Mr. Lockwooil. 

■* " Samuel Peters, I). D., LI,. I)., Clerk in Holy orders," as he signed liis name to the rec- 
ord of two marriaj^es at wliieh he officiated at Prairie du Chien. Naturally enough tliis story 
villitier of Connectieut was on a swindling sclieme. He attirmed that Carver, whom he ealls 
"an Anal)aptist [Baptist] in religion " had a valid claim tt) a vast tract of land extending from 
th(! Falls of St. .\nthony * * [to] tin; mouth of tlie Chippewa river, tlience eastward 
one hundred miles, thenee northward one hundred twenty miles, and from thence in a 
straijfht liiK! to the Fallsof St. Antliony." Certainly this was a tenu>tiiiK plum and Peters 
and two grandsons of Carver had come lo this distant land to pick it. 

^ For whose son Farihault, Minnesota, was named. 



1S2 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

ing from you, and believing it to be of no use to remain longer in tliis expensive 
place, I came down the river, and am now in Madison county, state of Illinois." 

Years were to elapse before either church or school were permanently es- 
tablished at Prairie du Chien. Laymen are often, as they ought always to be, 
true home missionaries, and one such, aj)parently, was Joseph Montfort Street 
who, in October or November, 1827, came to Prairie du Chien as an Indian 
agent to succeed Mr. Boilvin whose life had come to an end, — perhaps by 
drowning, — the summer before. Mr. Street was a Presbyterian of the Cum- 
berland branch of that church, which was then not in very high favor with the 
more conservative portion. 

In 1829, as we have learned, Mr. J. D. Stevens and Rev. Alvin Coe, pass- 
ing through Prairie du Chien. spent two weeks at that place. The latter may 
have made at least a second visit and it is he, probably, of whom Mr. Lock- 
wood writes thus disparagingly : 

"In 1830, a man by the name of Coe, who claimed to be a minister of the 
Presbyterian church, and missionary to the Indians, passed through the country 
and remained over Sunday at Prairie du Chien, and made an attempt at preach- 
ing ; but he was a very illiterate man and not over-burdened with common 
sense. ^ I must here relate an anecdote ot this man. He made several trips 
to the upper Indian country, and on one occasion took passage on a keel-boat, 
and arrived within about thirty miles of Fort Snelling on Saturday night; and 
as the boat would start early in tlie morning, and he would not travel on the 
Sabbath, he went on shore without provisions, and encamped over Sunday, and 
on Monday made his way to Fort Snelling, hungry and nearly exhausted." 

If this was Mr. Stevens's companion we may doubt his illiteracy. Who- 
ever he was we cannot but honor his endurance of hunger, loneliness, fatigue 
and danger for conscience's sake. 

As this event is not in Mr. Lockwood's narrative connected in date with 
the "attempt at preaching" we cannot but wonder if the latter may not have 
taken place in 1829. If in 1830, it is remarkable that we have no allusion to 
it in the narrative of Rev. Aratus Kent, the first who labored in this part of the 
world under commission from t)ie American Home Missionary society. In 
July, 1830, he held religious service in Prairie du Chien. Let us have the 
story in his pwn words: 

"I started July 5th for Paairie du Chien by request of General Street, 
fulfilled several appointments on my circuitous route, and after great fatigue ar- 
rived in time to meet my engagement to ])reach there on the 11th at the meet- 
ing of the council with the Indians, of whom three hundred of different tribes 



' Since writing tlie above I have become convinced that Mr. Lockvvood was excoediiiKly 
unjust to Mr. Coe. The foUowiiig transcript is made (by kindness of Rev. O. E. Boyd of the 
Presbyterian Board of Home Missions) from the uiinutes of tlie synod of Pittsburg: 

"1817 Presbytery of Grand River (Western Reserve, Oliio) report Alvin Co» licen.sed for 
four years. At the request of the Connecticut Missionary society, the presbytery ordained 
Mr. Alvin Coe as an evangelist on the lOth of .lune and admitted him as a member of presby- 
tery." Such a request would have been neither made nor granted in the case of a "very 
litexivX^e man." 



BY THE MIZr 8IBI. 183 

were present. My coii^regation of two hundred ])re.sented as great a variety of 
the human family as was perhaps ever addressed at tlie same time by an am- 
bassador of Christ." 

It seems tliat the honor of liokling the first Protestant service in Prairie 
du Chien belongs either to Mr. Coe or to Mr. Kent. 

From this time until a resident minister came thither Mr. Kent seems to 
have regarded Prairie du Chien as a part of his parish. Of one of his visits, 
made probably in the autumn of 1831, lie writes : "I came at a late hour where 
many were gathered together praying." Like " square dealing " people, — to 
use a Western and very expressive term, — Mr. Kent's hearers paid his expen- 
ses. Before he left they also made an offering of Sll for the work of the 
American Home Missionary society. We may doubt that there was one of ear- 
lier date than this, for said object, within the present limits of our state. And, 
if tliere was, we can readily believe that Mr. Kent made the ai)peal in response 
to which it was given. On the Monday of this visit of Mr. Kent to Prairie du 
Chien, there was observed what was relatively better known among our churches 
(the more's the pity ) in former days than now. — the monthly concert of prayer 
for the conversion of the world. The little congregation voted to continue it, 
and appointed a committee to report mission news both foreign and domestic. 

Perhaps good Brother Kent took a little satisfaction in adding to his ac- 
count of this visit to Prairie du Chien : "The Methodists have not been there 
yet." He says also: ''In going and returning 1 preached at Cassville." 

An agent of the American Home Missionary society. Rev. D. W. Lathrop, 
who made a trip in the West in the summer of 1831 wrote of Prairie du Chien 
as a place that "needs a minister." He adds that it has "a population of eight 
hundred, one-half of whom are French." 

"Some time in the year 1832," says Mr. Lockwood, "a student of divin- 
ity of the Cumberland Presbyterian sect came here and taught school for about 
six months, and on Sundays attempted to preach." Whether or not any of these 
attempts were successful Mr. Lockwood does not tell us. He thus continues his 
narrative : 

"In some of the treaties with the Winnebagoes, provision had been made 
for an Indian school near Prairie du Chien, and in the year 1833 the Rev. 
David Lowrey, of the Cund)erland Presbyterian denomination, came to the place 
as superintendent of said Indian school. But it was about a year thereafter 
before suitable buildings were erected on the Yellow river' in Iowa, and Mr. 
Lowrey remained in Prairie du Chien and jn-eached on Sundays; and, during 
this time, collected those professing religion of the different denominations into 
a society." 

Mr. Lowrey himself gives us an interesting narrative of liis coming to 
Prairie du Chien and his early work there. Bringing his family, he came over- 
land from Nashville, Tennessee. This movement he calls '-leaving his native 
land." He arrived at Prairie du Chien, 1833, Septend)er 7th. The Indians 

' Three i>r foui' miles above Prairie du Chien. 



^^■^ IN UNNAMEl) WISCONSIN. 

were unwilling to remove west of the Mississippi. Ac-cordingly the execution 
of the order to erect buildings for the school had been suspended. "It is a 
great pity," wrote Mr. Lowrey that most of the intercourse kept up between the 
wliite people and [the] Indians is by men of dissipated character, traders, whose 
sole object it is to make n.oney, and who frown on every attempt to improve 
the condition of the poor Indians, for they know if they [the Indians] turn 
their attention to agriculture and civilized habits, the fur trade with them would 
be seriously injured." 

True to his calling Mr. Lowrey at once began to liold preaching services. 
"I never saw a place where the gospel was more needed. Settlements forty 
and fifty miles distant are very desirous of preaching. Schools are greatly 
needed and would be well supported could suitable teachers be obtained. I 
have recommended an itinerant plan of school keeping until teachers can be 
procured for every neighborhood." He recommends young men of piety and 
enterprise to teach. '-I know of no country where money is more plenty than 
It IS here." It would need to be. one would think, for he tells us that -corn 
and wheat bring SI per bushel. Fifteen dollars and boarding are given per 
month for laborers on a farm." 

He rejoices that "no slavery can be admitted here." Writing under date 
of 18:-;3. December 7th, he says: -The cause of temperance on yesterday 
achieved a very important victory. I delivered an address to a very large audi- 
ence mostly of officers and soldiers, and secured sixty pledges to abstain." The 
letter was delayed a week. Meanwhile "fifty-five more signatures were ob- 
tamed; total, one hundred fifteen: more than half the garrison!" 

Further mention of Mr. Lowry's work is to be found in Butterfield's - His- 
tory of Crawford County:" "In 1834 the Rev. David Lowrey organized the 
first Protestant society in Prairie du Chien: it afterwards was merged into the 
Congregational society." 

General Street as he is commonly called,— he did efficient service in the 
Black Hawk war,— was one of the founders of the church. Another was one 
who yet abides with us, ex-Judge J. T. Mills, now of the Lancaster church, i 
A native of Paris, Bourbon county, Kentucky, he nevertheless early became a 
temperance man and an opponent of slavery. These " abolitionists " from the 
South were, more than any others, the men who made southwestern Wisconsin 
strongly anti-slavery. AViser than the sharp-tongued followers of Garrison they 
did not believe in disunion. From Illinois college, whither he had been drawn 
by the name of Edward Beecher, president there from 1830 until 1834, young 
Mills came to Prairie du Chien. On his way he saw Black Hawk, then a cap- 
tive. The young collegian becanje tutor in the family of Colonel Taylor and 
later in the home of General Street. It was with some misgivings and ques- 
tions of duty that this sturdy Kentucky aboluionist became one of the brother- 
hood of this church. For one of its members, Andrew Cochran, held slaves in 
Missouri. 

1 Since tlie above was written, lu; lias beeouie a re.sideiit of Manitoww. 



BY THE MIZI 8IBI. 185 

In about a year Mr. Lowrey's official duties prevented his rendering the 
church more than occasional service. "There is a Presbyterian church, of 
twenty-five or thirty members in the place," says Rev. Stephen Peet speaking 
of Prairie du Chien in the "'Home Missionary " for September, 1838, "sup- 
plied half the time by a Cumberland Presbyterian minister who occupies a sta- 
tion a few miles above." Rev. Isaac P^rving Heaton still living ^ in honored age 
at Fremont, Nebraska, removed about October, 1839, from Belmont, one of 
Wisconsin's early cajjitals, to Prairie du Chien. 

He writes: "At Prairie du Chien I preached only occasionally to supply 
a vacancy. My occupation there was teaching. For one year, partly before I 
went to Prairie du Chien, Rev. Mr. Bonham^ was the pastor. He was a 
young man, I think, from Tennessee. He was a Cumberland Presbyterian." 
Thus, as Father Kent was by preference a new-school Presbyterian, Mr. Hea- 
ton was probably the first Congregational minister to preach at Prairie du Chien. 
He soon removed to Mineral Point, and at that place was one of the first to 
have charge of its public sghool. 

Mr. Stevens, who came to Prairie du Chien first in 1829, removed thither 
from his mission among the Sioux, and in December, 1841, began work as pas- 
tor of the church organized by Mr. Lowrey in 1834. Mr. Stevens filled this 
office until September, 1843. 

Long yeai's afterward (1866), Jeremiah Porter came from army service 
to take the pastorate of the same old church that virtually had its beginning 
in 1830 and 1831 under his friend and associate. Father Kent.'* From Prairie 
du Chien Mr. Porter went once more to the wSouth, — this time to Brownsville, 
Texas, and soon thereafter a son and a daughter became missionaries in far-off 
Caina where they yet abide.* 

Another sturdy pioneer was Rev. Alfred Brunson who, as we have 
learned, came Prairie du Chien first on a tour of missionary exploration in the 
autumn of 1835. Continuing his work of mission superintendence, he came 
West the next summer, arriving at Prairie du Chien 1836, July 16th. He 
br>)ught with him from Meadville, Pennsylvania, by canal, French creek and 
the Alleghany river to Pittsburgh, thence eighteen hundred miles by the Ohio 
and the Mississippi a keel-boat with four families, including his own, and a 
dwelling-house ready to he put together. The cost of towage from Pittsburg 
l)y steamboats was S650 of which $400 was the charge from St. Louis to 
Prairie du Chien. ^ 

' While the gi-eater part of this narrative was in course of preparation. He died at Fre- 
mont 1898, September l«tli. 

- B. B. Bonham, as he lias been identified by ('hancellor N. Grcsen of Cumberland xiniver- 
sity. Lebanon, Tennessee. 

•■' Orgiiuized as a Cumberland Presbyterian church, in the year t?iven above, it dropped 
the " (^umberliind " in 1842 and became Congregational in 185(>. 

4 It may be that even as the pen writers tln;8e lines (1804, September lltli) Miss Porter,— 
bavins? paid a tribute to the memory of Ikt mother, and rendered to her father the last ser- 
vic>' that earthly love can give,— is traversing the Mediterranean Sia ortlie Red on her return 
to continue the work from which she was taken for a time only by the call of lilial piety. 

^ Tlie first steamboat to make its appearance at Prairie du Chien,— the Virginia of St. 



186 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Mr. Brunson was a unique gift of Connecticut to the West and to Metho- 
dism. Whether, on a night journey, singing liymns to drive away wolves that 
seemed ready to devour him and his horse, fighting his opponents in Confer- 
ence, proposing additional articles of faith for the Methodist church, or demolisli- 
ing Calvinism, Campbellism and the glacial theory, — all of which he seems to 
have held in about equal abhorrence, — he was the same self-reliant, aggressive, 
determined man, often mistaken, sometimes unjust, but a true soldier of the 
church militant. 

It is interesting to know that Duncan Graham, captain in the British 
Indian service, who in 1815 thought of Prairie du Chien as such a forlorn 
place, ^ — which no doubt it was, — became a resident there. He was one of 
those who had charge of "three Mackinaw boats, manned with six hands each, 
[and] loaded with wheat, oats and peas," — boats that on Saturday the 15th of 
April, 1820, "left Prairie du Chien for Selkirk colony [Pembina] on Red 
river," — a settlement that in its beginning seems to have found its base of 
supplies at Prairie du Chien. In 1827, at the tinje of the Winnebago out- 
break, Graham was the means of ridding Mr. Lockwood's home of marauding 
Indians who, in the husband's absence, had come thither with the intent, prob- 
ably, of taking the life of Mrs. (Warren) Lock wood or that of any one whom 
opportunity might put in the way of their guns or scalping-knives. 

Again and again the hopes of those who expected a great city at Prairie 
du Chien have been disappointed. In 1857 the old village was wakened for a 
little time to new life by the coming thither of the first railway that crossed the 
state of Wisconsin. That was a generation ago and even now when men hear the 
name of Prairie du Chien, — the Kipisagee^ of the Ojibways and other Algon- 
quians, — they think not of the future but of the past.^ 

Louis,— came in 1821. "It was a stern-wheeler, and a man with a pole was stationed on tlie 
bow to aid in steering." ' 

> See page 43. A sketch of Captain Graham's life is given by Secretary Draper in volume 
IX. page 299 of the "Wisconsin Historical Collections." 

^ " Meaning the place of the jet or overflow of the [Wisconsin] river, The word appears 
to be based on the verb kipa, to be thick or turbid, and sc.uye, outflow ; tlie river at the Hoods 
being little less than a moving mass of sand and water."— H. K. Schoolcraft. 

In 1822 there was very high water in the Mississippi. The parade ground of the old fort 
was Hooded to the depth of three or four feet. Tlie garrison was compelled to remove to the 
higher land back of the slough. See Durrie's " Annals of Prairie du Chien." 

^ And yet I hope that time may disprove the remark of Charles .J. Latrobe, an English 
traveler who visited Prairie du Chien in 1833: "The place seems destined to remain under 
the same spell as others of a like origin." Yet it is noticeable that whatever American com- 
munities were early attiicted with a preponderance of Romanism have been relatively unpro- 
gressive. Compare Green Bay with Milwaukee, St. Louis with Chicago, New Orleans with 
Philadelphia. Quebec with Boston. 

Of a still more distant past than that known to whites, Mr. Latroba gives hint wlien lie 
tells us that from "an Indian mound round which tlie new buildings [of the fort] were con- 
structed * forty-eight bodies, some enclosed in wooden or bark cottins, were removed." 
"Ancient mounds and fortifications" at Prairie du Chien are dcscribiul in Major Long's 
journal perhaps of 1817. 



CHAPTEJE^ XIII. 



A.M()X(i THE MINES. 

The southwestern part of Wisconsin is peculiar geologically from the fact 
that its surface bears no evidence of the glacial action that has marked so 
unmistakably all the rest of the state. Including the extreme northwestern 
part of Illinois, and a narrow strip along the Mississippi in Iowa and Minne- 
sota, this ''island in a sea of drift" has an area of about ten thousand square 
miles. In it is the Galena lead region. 

Here, where the denudation made by the storms and floods of unnumbered 
years had left masses of ore lying almost upon the surface of the ground, there 
was needed for the "discovery" thereof nothing more than a pair of eyes even 
though they were as keen as those of the ordinary Indian are supposed to be. 
And heat no greater than that of a camp-fire would turn this substance into the 
material of bullets. Indeed the soft ore itself could be cut or beaten into the 
desired form. If this was done, — as is probable enough, — by Indians, it would 
not take them long to conclude that, in addition to furs, they had something 
that the Frenchman would value. 

Mines were always an object of the explorer's search. It must have been 
with peculiar interest that Perrot, while journeying on the Wisconsin river, per- 
haps in 1692, received from some Miami Indians' a specimen of lead ore. 
Search for the place whence it was brought led him, perhaps, to the site, of the 
mines that, almost a century afterward (1788) were wrought by Jiilien Du- 
buque. On the opposite side of the Mississippi, probably not far above the 
mouth of the Galena river, Perrot, it is said, built a trading-post. Yet of all 
this, his own statements say nothing. 

In our story of La Pointe, there appears the name of Pierre Le Seuer. 
His building of a "fort" on Madelaine island was done not only to secure the 
trade of the region round about, but also, with another, to command the Brule- 
8t. Croix route between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. This second post 
Le Seuer built, — in 1695? — on an island near Lake Pepin. Soon we find 
him in France claiming that he had discovered, "at the source of the Mississipjn, 
mines of lead, copper, blue and green earth," and seeking a license to work 

1 With the Mascoutins (see page 2) tliere seem to heve been in 16<>9 some Miamis. A part 
of the trihe La SaHe found in 1(>H0 on the St. Josepli's river (MicliiKan or Indiana). There 
and on the Wabash and the Mauniee all the Mianii.s .seem by 1721, to have found a liome. 



188 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

them. This he obtained, and in 1699 started for Louisiana. In the following 
summer, he made his way up the Mississippi, and on the 25th of August, 1700, 
came to what he called "the river of the mines," known to us as the Fever or 
the Galena. This river he was the first white man to explore, and on its banks 
he found lead mines wrought in a crude way by Indians. There, and on or near 
the site of Dubuque, and also in what came to be known as "Snake Hollow" 
(Potosi), he set to work the thirty miners whom he brought with him from 
France. Their work in "Snake Hollow," — so-called when the Americans be- 
gan coming thither, — brought Le Seuer and his men within the limits of what 
is now Wisconsin, and they were probably the first whites to work therein for 
lead, — the first, perhaps, to know of its existence there. But this opening of 
mines only a few miles from those already known can hardly be called a dis- 
covery. 

The warlike Outagamies seem to have prevented the French miners from 
accomplishing much in this region. Whatever tlie Miamis also may have done 
there. — which was not much, — soon came to an end, and the Outagamies won, 
in the lead region, a mastery strengthened rather than weakened by the change 
of tribal home that their long war with the French forced upon them. In 
time, however, the southwestern part of what is now Wisconsin seems to have 
passed, though, apparently, not by conquest, into the possession of the Winne- 
bagoes. In 1788 at a council held at Prairie du Chien, the Outagamies made 
to Julien Dubuque a grant of land fronting the Mississippi on its western bank 
for twenty-one miles. But they came to hate the Americans, and when Colo- 
nel James Johnson and his men first came to Fevre river, — about the 5th of 
July, 1822, — the Outagamie and the Sauk Indians would have forcibly resisted 
their landing had not the utter folly of such action been made manifest by tlie 
presence of United States troops. 

In 1811 Nicholas Boilvin recommended that the United States govern- 
ment encourage the Indians to become lead-producers instead of fur-gatherers. 
"This would put an end to the subsisting intercourse between the Canadian 
traders and the Indians." He adds that "during the last season they," — he is 
speaking of the Sacs, Foxes and lowas, — " manufactured four hundred thou- 
sand pounds of that article" (lead). It would not be at all like the Anglo- 
Saxon race to leave in possession of barbarians a region so rich in mineral 
treasures. Indeed by "treaty" made at St. Louis, 1804, November 3rd a vast 
tract including the lead region had already been sold to the United States^ gov- 
ernment. That the chiefs who made the sale had the right to do so was after- 
ward denied by a large part of the tribe, — the Sacs and Foxes, — in whose 
name the deed was done. By the terms of the treaty, the united tribe was 
received into the friendship of the United States, and placed nnder the protec- 
tion of our government. But a portion, iT not a majority, of the tribe seem 
to have trusted for protection chiefly to themselves. 

It was natural, under the circumstances, that those dissatisfied with the 

1 (iovenior William Henry Harrison afterward president, represented the United States. 



AMONG THK MIXES. ISU 

treaty of 1804 should seek alliance with the British, to whom they had given 
support in the war of 1812. The leader of this "British band" (as they were 
called) of the Sacs and Foxes, — Sauks and Outagainies, — was a chief of the 
former people, Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah ' (Black Sparrow-Hawk), commonly 
known as Black Hawk. How he felt toward the Americans is clearly shown 
in a speech delivered by him, at Prairie du Chien, 1815, April 8th, before it 
was known there that peace had been made between Great Britain and the 
United States. "I have been sent by our chiefs," he said, "to ask for a large 
gun [cannon], to place in our village. The Big Knives are so treacherous, we 
are afraid that they may come up to deceive us. By having one of your large 
guns in our village, we will live in safety ; our women will then be able to 
plant corn and hoe the ground unmolested, and our young men will then be 
able to hunt for their families without dread of the Big Knives." ^ As late as 
1821, July 12th, he met in council on Drumniond Island, Lake Huron, Lieu- 
tenant Colonel McKay, the captor of Fort Shelby. "The Americans, my 
father, surround us," said Black Hawk, "but we are ever ready to meet them." 
His home was at the confluence of the Rock river with the Mississippi. 

Even then the whites were beginning to occupy the lead region. They 
found there Winnebagoes and apparently some of the Sacs and Foxes, though 
most of the latter had been rdmoved. The days when the Indian held the land 
and the fur-trader carried on the commerce were almost at an end. 

Men from Kentucky of whom James Johnson seems to have been leader 
came in 1822. They brought negro slaves with them. It is not known, how- 
fever, that any of these were brought over the line into what is now Wisconsin. 
The men of Kentucky and Missouri, who were the first to come, thought that 
the country was too far north for successful farming. None the less, hundreds 
at first and then thousands rushed into the region though the whites had but 
doubtful title and disputed possession. The Winnebagoes were the first to 
threaten disturbance.^ In the spring of 1827 some murders, to which reference 
has been made, were committed by them in the neighborhood of Prairie du 
Chien. Some men were also killed in a boat on the Mississippi near the mouth 
of the Bad Axe'* (June 26th). 

The miners raised a company of mounted volunteers who chose Henry 
Dodge, afterward governor, as their commander. It has been already stated, 
that a company was raised at Green Bay also. In this were Oneida and Stock- 
bridge Indians. Fortunately Governor Cass was at Green Bay when the dis- 
turbance began. He hastened to St. Louis to confer Avith Brigadier-General 
Henry Atkinson who soon started up the Mississip2)i with a force of regulars. 
Followed by Atkinson's men and Dodge's company, the Winnebagoes fled up 

' Written by Captain Henry Smith, Mvick-ut-tay-niick-e-kawkiah {Wisconsin Historical 
Collections, X., l.Ol). Black Hawk is sometimes called L'Epervicr. 

- This report of Black Hawk's speech was made by Captain T. G. Anderson, of the British 
army. 

^ The events that followed are known in our local history as the " Winnebaijo war." 
4 A little river that flows into the Mississippi from the esist almost opposite the boundary 
line between Iowa and Minnesota. 



lyO IN UNNAiMEU WISCONSIN. 

the Wisconsin as tar as the famous portage between that river and the Fox. 
There, hy giving up three of their number who fonfessed responsibility for the 
murders tliat had been committed, they made end both of their flight and their 
struggle. The surrender of the prisoners was made to Major William Whist- 
ler of Fort Howard who had come thence with all the force of his command 
including the friendly Indians. ' Among these , may have been some Menom- 
onees. 

Tlie scene was highly dramatic. On the left of the United States troops 
were their Indian allies. On the right hand was the band of musicians who 
rendered the solemn strains of "Pleyel's Hymn." The Winnebagoes ap- 
proached, bearing three flags one white, the others the familiar stars and strij)es. 
As they came into the presence of the United States commanding officer, their 
spokesman, the chief Car-i-mau-nee, said: "They are here. Like braves they 
have come in. Treat tliem as braves. Do not put tliem in irons." Then all 
sat down and a "talk" followed." , It was of such kind as might be expected. 
The Indians were duly admonished in regard to their offenses and their duty. 

The chief Red Bird, first of the offenders in tribal rank, then stood uj). It 
was the great day of his life and the resources of his toilet had doubtless been 
exhausted in making as brave a display as possible.^ Facing Major Whistler, he 
said: 'I am ready;' Then advancing a step or two, he paused and said : 'I do 
not wish to be put in irons. . Let me be free. I have given away my life' — - 
stooping and taking dust between his finger and thumb and blowing it away — 
'like that,' eyeing the dust as it fell and vanished, then adding: "I will not 
take it back. It is gone." Having thus spoken, he threw his hands behind 
him, and marched up to Major Whistler, breast to breast." 

Red Bird's request was granted. He was not put in irons. While the 
guard-tent was made ready the sound of Atkinson's cannon was heard. Soon 
canie also Dodge's company. 

Before the time for his trial Red Bird died a prisoner at Fort Crawfoi-d. 
His accomplices, We-kau and Ciiic-hon-sic were convicted of nmrder, but re- 
ceived from President John Quincy Adams a pard'jn bearing date 1828, No- 
vember 3rd. 

With the Winnebagoes thus humbled and the Sacs and Foxes under treaty 
. 1 . . 

' Ho arrived at the portase September 1st. Having' been commaiuled by Atkinson to 
await liis arrival there. Major Whistler encamped on tiie bight where in the foUowiiig year 
the erection of Fort Winnebago was begun. 

'^ His face was painted, on one side red, the otlier intermixed witli green and white. He 
was chithed in a Yankton suit of dressed elk-skin, perffi-tly white, and as soft as a ki,l glove, 
new and beautiful. On his feet he wore moccasins. On eacli shoulder, in place of an (epau- 
lette, was fa.stened a preserved red bird. Around his neck he wore a collar of blue wampum, 
beautifully mixed with white, whil.st tlie claws of a panther or wildcat, with their points 
inward, formed the rim of the collar. Around liis neck were lianging strands of wampum of 
various lengtlis, the circles enlarging as they descended. There was no attempt at ornament- 
ing tlie hair, after the Indian style; but it was cut after the fashion of the most civilized. 
Across his breast, in a diagonal position, and bound tightly to it, was his war pipe, at least 
three feet long, brightly ornameiited with dyed liorse hair, and the feathersand bills of birds. 
In one of liis hands he hold the white flag, and in the other the Ciilumet or pipe of peace.— 
Strong's "Hi.story of the Territory of Wi.sctui.sin." 



A.M().\(J 'PI IK MINKS. 191 

<)l)lij;ati()n to remove west of th^ Mississi})pi, the wliite i in migrants felt safe in 
their new liomes. 

At first all settlers in the lead region were practically tenants at will of the 
United States. No One might settle there, or mine, or smelt without a permit 
from the government agent who was usually an army officer. These settled dis- 
putes without the helj), -or hindrance, -of lawyers, and officiated at the first mar- 
riages. It was not until early in the session of 1 846-47 that Congress author- 
ized the sale of ore-bearing lands. ' But after 18o() little attention was paid to 
the regulations first established. What these were is shown in a lettei* written 
])y Dr. Horatio Newhall, of whom we shall hear as being some years later at 
F>)rt Winnebago. Under date of 1827, November 20th. he wrote to his brother 
Isaac Newhall, of Salem, -Massachusetts. The letter bears the superscription: 
'•Galena. Fevre River Lead Mines, suj)posed to be in Illinois." He gives us a 
lively and interesting pictuie of the country as it was then. 

"I received, by the last mail brought here by steamboat "Jesephine, " a 
newspaper from you on the margin of whicJi were endorsed the following 
Wv)r;ls;, ' Wi'ite a full account.' I was rejoiced to see once more a Massachu- 
setts paper, and })resume you meant by the endorsement a full account of Fevre 
River. This wi)uld puzzle me or any other person on the river. It is a non- 
descript. It is such a place as no one could conceive of withaut seeing it. 
Strangers hate it, and residents like it. The apj)earance of the country would 
convince any one it must be healthy ; yet last season, it was more sickly than 
Havana or New Orleans. There is no civil law here, nor has the Gospel been 
yet introduced : or, to make use of a common ])lirase here, " neither law nor 
Gospel can pass the rapids of the Mississi])pi." The country is one immense 
j)rairie from the Rock river on the south to the Ouisconsin on the north and 
from the Mississippi on the west to Lake Michigan on the east. It is a hilly 
country, and abounding with lead ore of that species called by mineralogists 
'galena' whence is derived the name of our town. The lead mines of the 
Upper Mississippi, as well as those of Missouri, are under the control of the 
Secretary of War. Lieutenant [Martin] Thomas is Superintendent. He re- 
sides at St. L)ais; a sub-agent resides at this i)lace. Any person wishing to dig 
gets a permit of the agent to do so, by signing certain regulations, the princi- 
pal of which is that he will sell his mineral to no one but a regularly licensed 
sniilter. He has all the mineral he can raise, and sells it at S17.50 per thou- 
sand (pounds), delivered at tlie furnaces. Any person who gets a permit stakes 
off two hundred yards s([uare. This is his lot so long as he works it, and lU) one 
can interfere with his discoveries. Any person who will give bond to the Gov- 

' Of lliis salt^ and proceeilinsjs preliiniiiary tliereto Mr. Consul Willsliirc; Buttertiold tluis 
writes: "Mietiiigs of huiilts and settlers were held throu^fliout the mineral country, and the 
riv?hts of miners wer*; adjusted by arbitrators appointed at such meetint^s. Public bidders 
were' apx>oiiited also, who Wi-ri^ empowered to bid off theniineral lands at the sale .June 1, 
1 HIT, and who afterwards deeded the tracts to each i)arty who had boon (l(;si(?nated by the 
arbitrators as the rightful elaimant. No opposition was permitted totlie bidders, who offered 
only regular Bovernment prices,"— $2. r>0 and $1.2r> per acre for fai'iuin^ and mineral lands 
respectively. 



192 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

ernment for $5,000 can have half a mile square, on condition that he employs 
twenty laborers and pays the Government 10 per cent, of lead made from min- 
eral raised on his survey, or sells his mineral to a public smelter. The public 
smelters, of whom I am one, give bond for $20,000 to pay the Government 
one-tenth of all lead manufactured. They buy mineral of any one who has a 
permit to dig, manufacture it into lead, pay the Government one-tenth monthly, 
and are the great men of the country. The mineral, lead, and cash all go into 
their hands. * * The privilege of working these mines, you know, 

was first given by the Government to Col. Johnson, of Kentucky, five years 
ago (in 1822). He did but little and sunk money. No lead was made here 
till last year. There were then four log buildings in Galena. Now there are 
115 houses and stores in the place. It is the place of deposit for lead and pro- 
visions, etc., for all the mining country. There is no spot in America, of the 
same size, where there is one-fourth of the capital, or where so much business 
is done. Tliere was manufactured here in the year ending September last, 
5,000,740 pounds of lead. ^ The population consists mainly of Americans, 
Ii'ish and French (that is in the diggings). There are but comparatively few 
females. Hence every female unmarried, who lands on these shores, is imme- 
diately married. Little girls fourteen and fifteen years old are often married 
here. Three young ladies who came, fellow-passengers with me, in June, and 
the only ones on boai-d, are all married months since. Du'Buque's Mines, on 
opposite side of the Mississippi, are worked by the Fox Indians. They, how- 
ever, merely skim the surface. The windlass and bucket are not known among 
them. Du'Buque's Mines is a delightful spot, particularly the Fox Village, 
on the bank of the Mississippi. Bat all of the places in the United States 
which I have seen. Rock Island, at the lower rapids of the Mississippi, called 
the rapids of the Des Moines, is by far the most beautiful. - Fort Armstrong 
is on this island. At the mouth of Fevre River is a trading-house of the 
American Fxif Company. Their trading-houses are scattered up and down the 
Mississippi, on the river Des Moines, St. Peter, etc. Their capital is so large, 
and they give such extensive credit to the Indians that no private establishment 
can compete with them. An Indian debt is outlawed, by their own custom in 
one year. The fur company credits each Indian hunter a certain amount, from 
$100 to $500, according to his industry anil skill in hunting and trapping. If, 
when they return in the spring, they have not furs and peltry enough to pay 
the debt, the trader loses it. But on the goods sold to the Indians, there is a 
profit of 200 or 300 per cent, made, and a profit on the furs received in pay- 
ment." 

In a postscript written 1827, December 7th, he adds: '-Fevre River was 
closed with ice on the 21st of November, and of course navigation is ended, 
and I have not sent my letter. I now have an opportunity to forward it by pri- 

* Incluiling, of course, the region round about. 

^ Dr. Newhall makes an error liere. Rock Island is at the upper rapids of the Mississippi; 
the lower beside which is now the city of Keokuk, Iowa, are near tlie nioutii of the Des 
Moines. 



A.M()N(} THE MINES. 193 

vate conveyance to Vandalia. ^ We are now shut ont from intercourse with the 
world until the river opens again in the spring. We have no mail as yet, but 
shall have a mail once in two weeks, to commence the first of January next. 
I have not received a letter from one of my friends since I have been in Fevre 
River. I hope you will write me before 1st of January, or as soon as you re- 
ceive this letter." 

Law and gospel soon came, law first, apjjirently, and with some provisos 
that we do not now take pride in recalling. What these were is suggested by 
an order passed 1829, March 10th, by the commissioners of Jo Daviess county, 

— of which Galena is the county seat, — taxing, with other property, "slaves;" 
also ''indentured or registered servants." The latter ex{)ression is of course a 
mere subterfuge, taken from certain statutes of Illinois poi)ularly known as the 
"black laws." By these it was sought to evade the anti-slavery clause of the 
state constitution adopted in conformity to the requirement of the Ordinance of 
1787. 

When the gospel came, it was of the genuine kind that proclaims liberty 
to the captives. It is to be hoped that Dr. Newhall with his New England 
training brought a measure of it himself. Bat though he afterward became 
a most helpful member of the First Presbyterian church of Galena, the oldest 
in the city, he did not enter into it at its organization. 

The founder and first pastor of this church and the bishop of all the re- 
gion of which Galena was then the metropolitan city, — or rather the true arch- 
bi-iliop thereof needing no pallium from Rjme as the symbol of his great office, 

— was Rev. Aratus Kent. Tiiis son of Connecticut and graduate of Yale in the 
last class taught by the senior President Dvvight, was of the same Puritan fam- 
ily that gave to the profession of law the renowned Chancellor Kent. ^ 

In the autumn of 1828, Galena was visited by Captain John Shackford, 
an earnest layman of one of the St. Louis churches. Moved by the spiritual 
destitution of the place, without church or minister or active Cliristian layman 
(»f any denomination, he stirred up tlie people so that forty-four of the citizens, 
not one of them a professor of religion, joined in an application to the Home 
Missionaiy society for a minister, and pledged five hundred thirty dollars 
toward his supports 

Thus the way was prepared for Mr. Kent's coming. Is it superstitious to 
note that his mind was not at rest in his (Bradford) New Hampshire field of 
labor though his peoi)le wished him to stay!'' Nor did the invitation to return 
to a former parish at L )ckport. New York, move him to say yes. •' I must 
needs call," he says, " on Dr. Absalom Peters, secretary of the American Home 
Missionary society, and inquire after a field of missionary lalior. He proposed 
tlie lead mines of the upi)er Mississij)pi, of wliich I knew nothing before, but 
where there were several thousand souls with no preacliing. ' I go, sir,' was 
my prompt reply." Leaving liis horse as a parting gift to the American Tract 

' 'I'liiMi, and until 18;?(;, ttu^ capital of Illinois. 

- Pri'sidfiit A. L. (Ihapiii, " Kdoit ("olh'^fc^ Monthly " (now "Round Table"), March, 1870. 
To this article 1 am indebted for mo.st of what is here stated in regard to Fatlier Kent. 



11)4 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

society, he went without waiting even for his written commission. * 

'' I am as one that dreams," he wrote under date of 1829, April 3rd, " with 
my paper on a trunk and my pen tremhling with the jarring of a steambjat 
contending with the strong current of the Mississippi. I am urging my way 
up the great valley, to the lead mines, not knowing the things that shall befall 
me there." 

He landed at Galena 1829, April 18th, twenty-seven days after leaving 
New York. Eight of these were spent in St. Louis " where he stopped for con- 
sultation with a few ministers, the nearest to the mines." 

On the day after his arrival he preached in Galena the first sermon heard 
there. " Here is opened," he wrote, '• a great and effectual door to preach the 
gospel." It was a vast field to which he had come, but -his faith and courage 
were equal to the responsibility. On one of his early tours of exploration," 
says President Chapin, " he alighted from his horse and on one of the majestic 
bluffs in that region proclaimed aloud, 'I take possession of tliis land f<ir 
Christ,' and events proved it not an empty boast." 

He preached in the hotel dining-room, — though his first service was held in 
the bar-room, — and in the court-house. Not satisfied with any of these places 
he bought, with his own means, the old log court-house, and thus in the autumn 
his congregation had a stated place of worship. In the following winter, hav- 
ing a helper in the work of teaching, he had charge of a day-school which num- 
bered sixty pupils. 

Not until 1831, October 23rd, was Mr. Kent able to organize a churcrh, 
and then with only six members.^ Of these Galena, with a population of one 
thousand, furnished but two, and two lived forty miles away at Mineral Point, 
(then) Michigan. 

Mr. Kent made his life a part of Wisconsin's history and that of the 
Northwest, as the term was used at that time. In November, 1843, he wrote: 

"As Paul did, so may I, 'after fourteen year.s,' recount the events that 
have transpired [occurred] since I came first to the lead mines of the upper 
Mississippi. My parish from Rock river to the Wisconsin has been surveyed. 
I have preached at Prairie du Chien, Fort Winnebago, Madison. Potosi, Lan- 
caster, Cassville, Mineral Point, Belmont, Platteville, Pecatonica (now R )ck- 
ton), Rockford, Grand Detour, Lyndon, Rock Island, Albany and Savannah. 
I have been in perils of waters six times, perils in the wilderness three nights, 
several times lost,— but out of them all the Lord has delivered me. There 
was, when I came, no church of any denomination, either Protestant or [R)- 
man] Catholic within two hundred miles, no Sabbath, no minister, no God rec- 
oo-nized. Now we have churches, presbyteries, conventions and synods. Our 
village has become a city of three or four thousand. Our church has grown to 
one hundred seventy-five, besides those gone to four new churches. We have 



' Very possibly some formal action had to be taken before this could be issued. It bears 
datf. 1829, March 21st. 

''■ Facts due, no doubt, to his high standard of church nieiiiheiship. 



A.MONIJ THE MINKS. 195 

thirteen Sabbath-schools in the country, and liave raised for foreip^n missions 
$1,530. God has done great things tor us." 

Daring the period of which Mr. Kent wrote, his labors were interrupted 
by the Black Hawk war. The sad. and in some respects disgraceful, story of 
that war has been often written. On the one side it was the last great struggle 
of a warlike ])eople ; on the other it was j)art of the resistless and relentless 
movement by which a nation was extending its domain. 

After the chjse of the second war with Britain, the treaty of 1804 with 
the Sacs and Foxes was renewed (1816. May 13th). But though Black Hawk 
then "touched the goose-quill' he afterward assei"ted stoutly that in what he 
signed there were requirements that he did not understaiid and to which he did 
not consent. So he continued to deny that his people were under any obliga- 
tion to remove to the western side of the Mississippi. Moreover he remained 
under the influence and pi-actically in the pay of the British. 

Besides he was deluded in a measure by an Indian -'prophet" who, like 
the others of his worse than worthless kind, was j)robably what among whites 
is called a "medium." Stronger minds than Black Hawk's have been led astray 
by spiritism, the form, it may be, which witchcraft takes in these modern days 

Black Hawk was not a hereditary chief. But natuial leaders, of whom he 
was one, rule by a right that all men recognize. 

To David, afterward king of Israel, came in the time of his exile from 
Saul's court, "every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, 
and every one that was discontented * * and he became a captain, 

over them, and there were with him about four hundred men." Black Hawk's 
adherents w^ere perhaps of the corresponding classes among his people, or, more 
strictly speaking, those who were restive under what was to the Indians legal 
authority. Keokuk, the tribal chief, removed in 1830 or thereabout to the 
western side of the Mississippi. With him were most of the tribe. 

The treaty of 1804 permitted the Indians to remain in their old posses- 
sions until settlers occujned the land. Black Hawk who was deeply attached to 
his home, which was also the place of his nativity, remained at his village at the 
mouth of the Rock. The story of the injuries which he and his people re- 
ceived there from the whites, and probably returned in full measure whenever 
they had opportunity, is a sorrowful one. More than once when the Indians 
returned from their hunting expeditions they found that their lodges had 
been burned. The sentiment prevailed among some of the border settlers 
that an Indian "lias no rights which a white man is bound to respect." 

Having returned in the spring of 1831 frouj a winter's hunt in what is 
n )w Iowa, Black Hawk and his people found that the site of their village had 
been pre-empted by some white men and that the burial j)lace of their fathers 
had been turned into a plowed field. Naturally the Indians were furious. 
Tliey took p(xssession of what they regarded as their own. Met with com- 
mands to recross the Mississij)pi they retorted by injuring or destroying })rop- 
erty belonging to the wiiite settlers and, it is said, threatened them with death 



10() IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

if they did not leave. But Black Hawk claims that they did not intend to shed 
blood unless in defense of their homes or their people. 

There has been, it must be confessed, much senseless bluster in the official 
papers issued by many of our state executives. At this time G.)vernor Jolin 
Reynolds of Illinois called for volunteers "to repel the invasion of the British 
band." Fifteen hundred or more answered the call. These with a force of 
United States regulars under Brigadier-General Ednmnd P. Gaines, came 1831, 
June 26th, to Black Hawk's village. But the night before the Indians had 
found safety on the other side of the great river, and on the 30th of Jane, 
Black Hawk and his party agreed not to return to the eastern side without per- 
mission from the President or the governor (of Illinois). 

The exiles had come to the trans-Mississippi part of Michigan, now Iowa, 
too late to raise a crop. They got little game for the next winter. Malcon- 
tents among the Winnebagoes and Pottawatomies encouraged them to take up 
arms. No doubt the "prophet" used his baleful influence. Accordingly in the 
spring of 1832, Black Hawk made a mistake that will connect his name for- 
ever with the history of all this region. He crossed the Mississippi, April 6th, 
with a band of five hundred warriors, mostly Sauks like himself, their women 
and children. War followed as a matter of course. 

The campaign on the part of the Indians may be described as a fli;fht up 
the Rock to Lake Koshkonong, thence by way of the Four Lakes (of Madison) 
to the Wisconsin where it divides Dane c )unty from Sauk, thence westward 
to where the Bad Axe flows into the Mississippi. 

More in detail : The Indians first went to Prophetstown on the Rock. At- 
kinson bade them recross the Mississippi. "If you wish to fight us, come on," 
was Black Hawk's reply. Some of the Illinois volunteers under Major Still- 
man thought that they did wish to light them, and went on with a great show 
of bravery. They thought that they were on a "big frolic" and conducted 
themselves accordingly. 

While this choice band was in camp on the creek in Ogle county, Illinois, 
that now bears the name of their commander, on the afternoon of the 14th of 
May, they saw at a distance thi-ee Indians. These were Black Hawk's mes- 
sengers to say that he wished to come to terms. But the half-tlrunken white 
wretches who had been filling themselves with whisky gave chase to the Indians 
and killed one of them, if not two. These were the first vic^tims of the war 
and their blood the first shed therein. 

Black Hawk, seeing how his messengers of peace were treated, i)laced his 
men in ambush and awaited the coming of the pursuers. A volley from the 
Indians put the rangers to flight. Some of them did not pull rein until they 
got to their own homes, but most were content to stop at Dixon, more esjjecially 
as a Captain Adams, who lost his life thereby, had put himself with his com- 
mand between them and their Indian pursuers. This "spy batallion " of two 
hundred seventy-five, disgracefnlly routed by a party said to number not more 
than a hundred of whom thirty-five joined in the pursuit, reported that Black 



AMONG THE MINES. 197 

Hawk had under his command two thousand warriors." The Illinois militia 
who had so promptly ejilisted, were now quite as prompt in disbanding. * How- 
ever, out of their number a regiment wat> formed for further service, and their 
former commander, Brigadier-General ^ Samuel Whiteside enlisted as a private 
and showed himself a brave fighter. Better men-* than the skulkei's and more 
of them took their places. Illinois put two thousand volunteers in the field. 
As they had done in the Winnebago "war," so now the miners in Wisconsin 
and about Galena raised a force of mounted men, — two hundred without the 
Galena company, — and again Henry Dodge was made commander. Black 
Hawk aftei'ward said: "If it had not been for that chief Dodge, 'the hairy 
face' I could easily have whipped the whites; I could have gone anywhere my 
people pleased in the mining country."* 

Before new levies were ready to take the field the settlers in the lead re- 
gion, the part of (the future) Wisconsin which suffered most in the Black Hawk 
war, were exposed to great danger. Much killing was done on both sides, — 
murder, if of whites by Indians ; war, if of Indians by whites. One of the worst 
deeds was by Pottawatomies and Sauks under command of a white renegade 
Mike Girty. "In these border strifes," says Mr. Thwaites, "fully two hundred 
whites and nearly as many Indians lost their lives, and there were numerous 
instances of romantic heroism on the part of settlers, men and women alike." 

Soon Atkinson had at his command sufficient force to take the field. Af- 
ter Stillman's defeat. Black Hawk put his non-combatants in safety at Lake 
Koshkonong where they stayed while the warriors engaged in forays about the 
country. 

Driven fi'om Lake Koshkonong the Indians made a stand in what is now 
the town of Roxbury, Dane county. There, almost opposite the site of Prairie 
du Sac, was fought the "battle of Wisconsin Hights." In this, though defeated. 
Black Hawk showed the qualities of a good commander and protected the re- 
treat of his people. 

But the end was at hand. Without the possibility of reinforcements, with- 

» The first intelligence received of the runaway troops by Gen. Atkinson, was that they 
had proceeded across the country to the Illinois river, and disbanded themselves or had been 
discharged. This was said to have been brought about from some cause connected with the 
local politics of the state. It may be well to add the fact that Stillman's corps had never 
been for an instant under Gjn. Atkinson's orders, they having joined Gov. R3ynolds at Dix- 
on's, by a march through the country.— Captain Henry Smith. 

* In state service. 

3 Aniong these was Abraham Lincoln who, after the first set of volunteers had been dis- 
banded, was mustered into the service 1832. May 29th, by Robert Anderson whom in 1861, 
he made brigadier-general for so faithfully defending Fort Sumpter. 

4There are those to whom the mere mention of Calvinism is like shaking a red rag be- 
fore some turkey gobblers: it sets them to making a noise. But as study of human thought, 
if nothing more, it is interesting to note the attraction this form of philosophical and theo- 
logical dogma has had for many of the world's strong and determined men. Thus Dodge, 
once probably an irreligious man, found in his last days a favorite study in Scott's Bible, the 
Itook th it furnish.id th.i M tox mi party of Sto^kbridg-s with readings which took the place 
of sermons. And Scott, as every one knows, tliough like Dodge an Episcopalian, is highly 
C;alvinistic. Andrew .Jackson joined the Presbyterian church before his death. Such Calvin- 
i.sts as William the Silent and Cromwell remind us of Binrkle's remark that every great 
struggle for freedom in Europe has been preceded by some form of Calvinism in the religious 
belief of njany or most of tlie peo.de. 



1U8 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

out supplies or shelter, the wretched fugitives went on marking with the bodies 
of their dead a pathway for their pursuers. Their way could also be traced, in 
places, by trees that had been stripped of bark for food. 

"At length," says Black Hawk, '-we arrived at the Mississippi having lost 
some of our old women and little children who perished on the way with hun- 
ger. We had been here but a little while before we saw a steamboat (the War- 
rior) coming. I told my braves not to shoot, as I intended going on board so 
that we might save our women and children. I knew the captain (Throckmor- 
ton), and was determined to give myself up to him. 1 then sent for my white 
flag. While the messenger was gone, I took a small piece of white cotton and 
put it on a pole, and called to the captain of the boat and told him to send his 
little canoe on shore and let me come on board. The people on the boat asked 
whether we were Sacs or Winnebagoes. I told a Winnebago to tell them we 
were Sacs and wanted to give ourselves up. A Winnebago on the boat called 
to us "to run and hide, that the whites were going to shoot." About this time, 
one of my braves Imd jumped into the river, bearing a white flag to the boat, 
when another sprang in after him and brought him to shore. The firing then 
commenced from the boat, which was returned by my braves, and continued 
for some time. * *■ 

"The Winnebagoes on the steamboat must have misunderstood what was 
told or did not tell it to the captain correctly, because I am confident he would 
not have fired upon us if he liad known my wislies. I have always considered 
him a good man and too great a brave to tire upon an enemy when suing for 
quarter. 

* * * .*.■,. ■■* * Hf .* * 

"Early in the morning, a party of whites, being in advance of the army, 
came upon our people who were attempting to cross the Mississippi. They 
tried to give themselves up. The wliites paid no attention to their entreaties, 
but commenced slaughtering them. In a little while the whole army arrived. 
Our braves, but few in number, finding that the enemy paid no respect to age 
or sex« and seeing that they wei-e murdering helpless women and little children, 
determined to fight Until they were killed. As many women as could, com- 
menced swimming the Mississippi with children on their backs. A luimber of 
them were drowned and some shot before reaching the ojjposite shore. 

"One of my braves, who gave me tliis information, piled some saddles up 
before him, when the fight commenced, to shield him from the enemy's'fire, and 
killed three white men; but, seeing that the whites were coming too close for 
him, he crawled to the bank of the river and hid himself until the enemy re- 
tired. He then came to me and told nie wliat had been done. After hearing 
this soiTowf ul news, I started with my liltle party for the Winnebago village 
at Prairie La Crosse." 

It is only just to add that Captain H Miry Smith of the regular army, 
apparently a brave and truthful man, says that " quartei- was in no instance {isWed 
or granted. The official reports give tlie number killed of the enemy at one 



AMONd TlIK MINKS. 199 

hundred and fifty, though doubtless many more were killed at the river and 
elsewhere, whose bodies were never seen afterwards. Our loss was but twenty- 
seven. The Black Hawk, the Prophet, and some other chiefs escaped from the 
action ; but were subsequently brought in by the Winnebagoes, and the friendly 
Sauks, and delivered to the commanding General. After the action, a body of 
one hundred Sioux warriors presented themselves, and asked leave to pursue on 
the trail of such of the enemy as had escaped. This was ^granted, and the 
Sioux, after two days' pursuit, overtook and killed fifty or sixty, mostly, it is 
feared, women and children." 

We who dwell in Wisconsi^n do not boast of this "battle." 
Though the affair at the mouth of the Bad Axe reflected no credit upon 
the whites engaged in it, their march thither did. From the Wisconsin west- 
ward they were in a region before untraversed by white men. It is probable 
that the Indians led them over the worst of a very rough country, — a land of 
forests, streams, almost perpendicular bluffs, and hills that rise nearly to the 
hight of mountains. 

• The Black Hawk war was remarkable for the number of men engaged in 
it who afterward accjuired national renown. Two have been named, Abraham 
Lincoln and Robert Anderson. Colonel Taylor commanded a regiment in which 
Jefferson Davis served as lieutenant.^ Major-General Winfield Scott also was 
ordered to the scene of disturbance and got as far north as Prairie du Chien, 
but arrived too late to take any part in the fighting. ^ 

The war being over, the settlers felt safe in venturing out of the dozen or 
more log -'forts" which they had built, one at every place of any importance in 
the mining district. The activities of business were resumed and again south- 
western Wisconsin and a little later the entire region west of Lake Michigan 
invited immigration.'^ 

The attentive reader will have noticed that the movement which first occu- 
pied the lead region had its origin in Kentucky and Missouri and preceded the 
New England and New York stream of immigration whicrh found resting-places 

* A characteristic story is told of Taylor. Some of the Illinois militia infected with the 
state rights heresy of the time, which was then leading the authorities of South Carolina to 
the verge of treason and twenty years before hroiiglit disgraqe upon Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut, refused to go beyond the bounds of their state in pursuit of Black Hawk. This oc- 
curred on the banks ef the Rock beyond which was the route which must be taken. Taylor 
stationed liis regulars so that between them and the river there were the volunteers. The.se 
he then addressed, telling them that orders had been received from the President to pursue 
the Indians. Some of their number might yet till the ofHce of President. If so, they would 
expect to be obeyed. At any rate he intended to obey orders, and if there were any among 
them wlio did not wish to cross the river,— there stood the United States troops behind them. 
" Forward, nuirch ! " Tliey marched! 

Perhaps Abraham Lincoln was one of the volunteers addressed. If so we may liope 
tliat he was too careful in judgment to take part in a mutiny. It is due to tlie re-organized Illi- 
nois militia to say that, aside from this nonsense, they made for themselves a good reputation. 

-' With Scott and his troops came to the upper Mississippi valley, for the first time, the 
Asiatic cholera, an enemy that took the liv«'s of more .soldiers than were slain in the war 
with the hostile Sauks. 

•■'The land office at Mineral Point was established 1830, August 1st. Tlie venerable 
(xeorge Wallace .Tones, now of l)ubu<iue, Iowa, says that his entry of the land that includes 
Sinsinawa Mouml wastbc tir.st nsadr. 



200 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

by Lake Michigan, in the valley of the Rock, and on the prairies between them. 
The route of the one was by the Mississippi; of the other, by the Great Lakes, 
Thus for a time there were, in what is now Wisconsin, two distinct areas of set- 
tlement. Of these the one in the mining district was at first much the more 
important. It is no wonder some thought that, with the part of the lead region 
on the west side of the Mississippi, it would form the political and commercial 
center of a state to be formed of what is now Wisconsin and Iowa. Nor was 
this dream dispelled when the act was passed by which Wisconsin became an 
organized Territory of the United States. Said act was approved 1836, April 
20th, and went into effect on the 4th of the next July. 

The Black Hawk war had drawn public attention to the new Territory. 
It had been found out that farming could be successfully carried on as far north 
as the lead region. Land was in great demand there and elsewhere in the fu- 
ture state. But of 878,014 acres of government land sold in Wisconsin by the 
end of 1836, Mr. Moses M. Strong estimates that 600,000 had gone to " specu- 
lators." Much harm was done the country, especially the mining part of it, by 
this non-resident ownership though, as has been said, an effort was made to re- 
tain the ore-bearing lands in the possession of the government. ^ However, in 
spite of speculation, the farmer began his work in developing the resources of 
the future state. The miner of the winter was often the farmer of the sum- 
mer, and thus and in other ways the two classes were easily blended. 

By the census taken in August, 1836, the number of Inhabitants in what 
is now Wisconsin was found to be 11,687. Of these nearly one-half, 5,234, 
were in Iowa county in which were then included Grant and La Fayette. Wiiat 
is now the state of Iowa, — then comprised within the counties of Des Moines 
and Dubuque, — had a population of 10,531. This weight of population toward 
the southwest naturally gave the lead region a strong claim for the location of 
the capital therein. It was at Mineral Point ^ that Governor Dodge took the 
oath of office, and the first legislature of Wisconsin met at (old) Belmont, near 
Platteville, in 1836, October 25th. 3 

Wisconsin thus named and organized extended from Lake Michigan to the 
Missouri river. Its most southern point was at the confluence of the Des 
Moines and the Mississippi; its most northern, the point, — ^to which reference 
has already been made,'* — called in the British-American treaty of 1783 "the 
most northwestern corner " of the Lake of the Woods. In other words, it in- 
cluded all of the present states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and, of the Da- 
kotas, those portions that lie east of the Missouri and the White Earth. 

^ Not until August. 1842, was there passed "an act for the relief of certain settlers in 
Wisconsin,"— those who had been refused pre-emption privileges because they had settled on 
what were regarded as mineral lands. 

'■« Often called in early days by the extraordiuary name of Shake-Rag or Shake-Rag under- 
the Hill from the circumstance that a woman who kept a boarding house there made known 
the time when meals were ready by hanging a cloth from one of her windows. 

s The legislative session held at Green Bay, beginning 1830, January 1st, was held in the 
name and under the authority of the Territory of Michigan. 
4 See page 39. 



CHAPTEf\ XIV. 



WISCONSIN'S OPEN DOOK. 

The beginning of a i)evmanent settlement was made on the site of the 
l)resent city of Green Bay, in 1745. The ungai'risoned French post La Baye, 
on the opposite side of the rivei", was occnpied by the British, as ah-eady stated, 
1761. October 12th. The gan-ison of Fort Edward Augustus, as it was called by 
its new possessors, Lieutenant James Gorrel, commander, escaped the fate of 
most British troops in the West at the time of Pontiac's conspii'acy. By the 
friendly intervention of the Dakotas (Sioux), Gorrel and his men departed un- 
molested, 1763, June 21st. Pontiac's war was soon over, but no garrison was 
stationed at Fort Edward Augustus, and the name dropjied out of use. 

In September, 1766, Jonathan Carver visited Green Bay on his famous 
journey, and thus wrote : " The place is only a small village containing about 
twenty-five houses and sixty or seventy warriors. I found there nothing worthy 
of further remark. ' When Carver came it was as an Englislunan, a colonist to 
be sure, but still an PjUglishman loyal to George III. Soon the long union be- 
tween the colonists and the mother country was broken, but Green Bay remained 
practically a part of Canada until after the treaty of Ghent. 

In 1815, May 18th, Louis Grignon wrote: ''We know nothing as yet of 
the news except that by the Gazette we see that we are ceded to the Americans.'' 
On the 29th of the same month he announces his departure from La Baye, a}>- 
j)arently to join as leader a party bound for Mackinaw, adding, " I go to-mor- 
row." * It was probably about the middle of Jane, 1815, the British finally 
withdrew from Green Bay. 

But the American flag did not float over the ol<l place until 1816, July 16th, 
three schooners vvitli a portion of the Third United States infantry, under 
command of Colonel John Miller, sailed into Fox river. In two months' time, 
on a site near the present station of the Chicago and Northwestern railway, 
Fort Howard was built.' Here, as already noted, were held the first Protest- 
ant services in unnamed Wisconsin.'- These, as stated, were by Dr. Morse, 

' On hearing of the proposed buiUlingof this fort, McDouall continues his lamentation 
that tlie British are to lose all control of the Indians between Lake Michigan and the Missis- 
sippi and all inriuence over tliein. H(! speaks of (Ti-een Bay as being in a country that the 
Aiiit-ricans did not possess before the war. 

- The notorious . Samuel Peters, " LL. I). iS: Clerk in Holy Orders," as he subscribt'sliimself. 



202 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

in July (probably the 9th), 1820. 

The name Green Bay is not always used with precision. Thus it some- 
times denotes the mission of St. Francis Xavier, sometimes Fort St. Francis, 
sometimes the fort called first La Baye and then Edwai'd Augustus. Even Fort 
Howard is sometimes hidden under the term Green Bay. The first settlement 
of importance, after American possession, had its beginning when Colonel Smith 
in 1820 removed his troops from Fort Howard to higher land on the opposite 
side of the river two miles and a half up stream and half a mile from it. Be- 
tween camp and river grew up a village described doubtless by its suggestive 
name "Shantytown." What was called the "Grignon tract" is the site of the 
present city of Green Bay, the northern part of which was laid out in 1830 as 
Navarino and the southern in 1835 as Astor. 

Vaguely described as opposite Shantytown was the "old agency house," 
erected by Colonel John Bowyer whom Dr. Morse found exercising the office 
of Indian agent. Of this building, made vacant by Bowyer's death, Eleazar 
Williams on his second arrival, 1822, September 1st, by permission of Colonel 
Ninian Pinkney, took possession. Here he may have held his first public ser- 
vices after coming west. That he delayed this duty so long does not surprise 
us knowing as we do the character of the man. There is reason to believe that 
these services in the summer of 1823 were at Shantytown or the Agency. But 
in the following winter at Colonel John McNeil's invitation, they were held in 
Fort Howard, to which the troops had been brought back in the autumn of 1822. 

Williams's successor, Rev. Norman Nash, was the first minister of the 
Episcopal denomination or of any Protestant church to come to what is now 
Wisconsin apparently with the purpose of making his home here. But as he 
arrived late in August, 1824, and left early the next spring, it can hardly be 
said that he became a resident of Wisconsin. Mission work among the In- 
dians, — though he did very little of it, — seems to have been his main object in 
coming. He, too, found a home at the Agency, where, after waiting till winter, 
he opened a school and " preached to the neighbors on Sundays," to use the words 
of A. G. Ellis who was nominally his assistant, virtually, it would seem, his 
principal. While sustaining a like relation to Williams, Mr. Ellis, the winter 
before, taught the post school at Fort Howard. Now, having practically sepa- 
rated himself from Mr. Nash, who was apparently a good but not an energetic 
man, he opened a school at Shantytown where, "after Mr. Nash left," he says, 
"I began lay reading on Sundays and organized an Episcopal Sunday-school at 
my school-room." Thus in the spring of 1825, two Sunday-schools were started 
within the present limits of our state, this and the one by Mrs. Lockwood and 
Dr. James at Prairie du Chien. Which preceded the other and so was the first 
of our Wisconsin schools has not yet been found out. 

In a community with such a population as Green Bay had in its earlier 
years, there was no such thing, of course, as popular education. The first set- 
was at Green Bay in June, 1818, and baptized children, "according to the rubric of tlie church 
of Enghind," on tlie fifth and ninth of June. But it docs not appear that he lieUl public ser- 
vic8 or preached there. 



WISCONSIN'S OI»EN DOOR. 203 

tier at the place, Augustine de Langlade, ^ who with his Ottawa wife removed 
thither from Mackinaw, jjrobably knew at least how to read and wi*ite himself, 
and saw to it that his children or, certainly, one of them, Charles Michel,- 
received a measure of the same kind of training. But this, — whatever it was 
in extent and quality, — Charles received before his father's family removed from 
Mackinaw. Other children of one or more favored families may have been 
taught by some one or more of the few men who were employed in the fur 
business because they knew how to use the pen. 

In 1791 Jacques Porlier removed from Montreal to Green Bay. It is 
said that he taught a school. But Augustine Grignon who gives us the year of 
Porlier's arrival and was then of such an age that a school could hardly have 
escaped his knowledge and his memory, says : "We had no early schools — none 
till after the coming of the American troops."^ Thomas S. Johnson of Onon- 
dago. New York, was the first school-master. His first contract bears date " the 
10 of November, 1817." The school was to be continued nine months, and 
seems to have been called, — ^by its master at least,^ — "the Green Bay Seminary." 
In the year when Mr. Johnson began his " seminary " there was, it is said, at 
least a proposition to establish a French boarding and day school. If such an 
institution came into being there appears no trace of its existence. 

As we have learned. Dr. Morse when at Green Bay in 1820 seems to have 
roused the people of that place to their need of a school. We may be per- 
fectly sure, however, that Dr. Morse had nothing to do with choosing the man 
who was employed as its instructor, — "J. Bte S. Jacobs," as he signed his name. 
Under date of "17 October, 1820," Jacobs writes to Messrs. John Lawe and 
Louis Grignon, " I have mentioned to you boath, that I intend to keep school, 
being the onley means for a Liveleyhood." But under date of 20th January, 
1823, this worthy school-master wrote to Mr. Lawe from "Manomenie River:" 
" Had [I] been incourage to keep a school at the Bay I should be there yet but 
one Gallon Pease 15 lbs. Pork per Month was not anueff to supp me. I got 
drunk to drop the school as I could not make a Livelywood on one Gallon 
Pease 15 lbs. Pork per Month." 

Next on the list of early teachers at Green Bay we find the names of Amos 
Holton, then that of Daniel Curtis, a grandfather of the wife of General Sher- 
idan. The preceding year Curtis, — once a captain in the regular army, — had 
taught the past school at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien. The next teacher 
at Green Bay was A. G. Ellis, to whom we are debtors for so much of infor- 
mation concerning the early history of that place and of Wisconsin. 

It is an evidence of the foreign sentiment at Green Bay that, in the early 
schools there, the soldiers' children were called by the others "the little Bos- 
tonians." 

1 Born at Three Rivers, Canada, in September, 1703. 

^ See page .SO for some mention of tliis man. Ho it is in honor of wliom Langhxde county 
was n;>mi!il. Tie was baptized at Mackinaw 172;i, May !»th, probably, acconlinK to Roman 
Oatholic usage, very soon after liis birtli. He is credited by his admirers with having been 
the decisive factor in the defeat of Braddook. Langlade died in .hmuary, 1800. 

'■* "Historical Collections." HI., 253. 



204 IN UXNAMKl) WISCONSIN. 

In July of that year, Christ church (Episcopal) of Green Bay was organ- 
ized by laymen J It was thus the second Protestant church on Wisconsin soil, 
that — of the Congregational order — among the Stockbridges being the first. 

Mr. Ellis learned in the autumn of 1825 that the Episcopal authorities 
had ''decided to suspend operations with the Green Bay mission till a suit- 
able superintendent could be obtained." He then became teacher in the post- 
school at Fort Howard where there had been •• a change in tjie army officers 
and soldiers,"— a change that apparently was favorable to both religion and 
education. ** In connection with some two or three of the officers, favorably 
disposed, a Sunday-school was organized which was kindly put under my super- 
vision." It would seem that this was about the time when Mr. Ellis gave up his 
distinctive mission work. However, he continued to report. — once in six 
months, — to the committee of his church. We hear nothing more about the 
Sunday-school that he had started in ''Shanty Town." 

" Regular religious services," he adds, " were also had on Sundays, alter- 
nating those of the Episcopal and Congregational churches." Who conducted 
these we are not told, but we may infer that Mr. Ellis himself was reader when 
the Episcopal ritual was used. We wish we knew who led in the services alter- 
nating with his own. For, if he has made no error, they were the second of 
the Congregational order. — the first save those by John Metoxen, — regularly 
maintained within the present limits of our state. 

The first Methodist services in the Wisconsin region were held in Fort How- 
ai'd by one of the officers, Samuel Ryan, commonly known as "colonel" who 
came thither in 1826, and immediately began evangelistic labor.? About this 
time, it would seem, P^leazar Williams, who had not then given up his absurd 
scheme of an Indian confederacy, '"returned to the Bay," — probably from New 
York where he had been ordained. — "and preached a few times at the post 
school-house." 

All these efforts were in advance of the coming of anj' Roman Catholic 
priest for permanent residence. " Father Fauvel. the first of his church, I 
think," says the late Morgan Lewis Martin, so well known in Wisconsin his- 
tory, "to land in Green Bay after the close of the early missions," came thither, 
1827, May 20th. ^ In July of this year Rev. Jesse Miner must have passed 

' But a second organization, and the one recognized by Bisliop Brown, was effected 1829, 
September KJth. Whether the first had elapsed or liish churchism denies that laymen alone 
can organize a church I do not know. But most of us are ready to claim that tlie action of 
July. 182o, was valid and formed a real church. Christian at least, if not Episcopal. 

2 lean not but suspect that tliose were the services referred to aboVe by Mr. Ellis, and 
there called "Congregational." Tiiis supposition is favored by the fact that a real Congrega- 
tional service as far west as Green Bay would probably at that time liave been called Presby- 
terian. 

On the otlier hand, it will be noticed that Mr. Ellis puts the first of these services before 
" Colonel" Ryan's coining and would have been likely to taki^ especial notice b{ Methodism 
as a somewhat aggressive child of his own church. 

^ .Judge M.artin is in error. Priests had visited Green Hay, says R-^v. Chrysostom \erwyst. 
in 17i».S, 1828. 1824, and 182<;. Verwyst speaks severely of Fauvel whose name he spells dif- 
ferently: "Rev. J. Vincent Badin. appointed a Frenchman with tlie name of Favrell to keep 
school, and allowed him to as.semble the peoi)le on Siuidays, read to tliem the gospel of the 



WISCONSIN'S OPEN DOOR. 20') 

through Green Bay on his way to the Stockbridge settlement at Grand Kau- 
kaulin. The removal from Fort Howard of the main body of the troops closed 
Mr. Ellis's school and caused him to engage in other pursuits. These events 
also occurred, Mr. Ellis thinks, in 1827. The Sunday-school receives no men- 
tion nor the alternate Episcopal and Congregational services. It is claimed, 
however, by W. G. Miller, D. D., that, until the arrival at Green Bay (1832, 
July 21st), of Missionary Clark, to whom reference has been made in the his- 
tory of the Ojibway mission. Colonel Ryan continued his preaching services. If 
so, and if he remained at Green Bay, it is hard to understand why he did not 
keep them up, for Mr. Clark went twenty-live miles from the white settlement 
to labor among the Oneidas, — the service for which he had come. 

In 1828, Rev. Richard Fish Cadle, who served later at Fort Winnebago 
and Prairie du Chien came to Shantytown, to which its more dignified 
inhabitants sought to give up the name Menomonee or Menomoneeville. He 
found a home in what had been the officers' quarters at Camp Smith, and there, 
in November, opened a school. In the course of the winter, land was obtained 
for a boarding-school, designed for Indian children, and a building erected. A 
school-liouse was built the following summer (1829), probably used also as a 
l)lace of worship, and a second large building soon after. Mr. Ellis, it appears, 
douI)ted the wisdom of establishing this school. From him we learn that " af- 
ter nearly three years of almost insupportable labor, fatigue and anxiety," Mr. 
Cadle's health failed. His successor, Rev. Daniel E. Brown, "continued the 
school for some two years more, when, for reasons similiar to those named to 
me by Rev. Mr. Ferry of Mackinaw, the establishment was reduced and finally 
discontinued." 

Dr. Richard S. Satterlee who, with his wife, both from Massachusetts, had 
in 1823, in a time of revival, been added to the Mackinaw church, came to 
Green Bay, September, 1832. Probably we may date the real work of the 
church at Green Bay from the time of their coming. In the summer of 1834, 
Rev. Jeremiah Porter at the invitation of Mrs. Satterlee who had been at Chi- 
cago to visit her sister, Mrs. Major Wilcox, came to Green Bay and preached 
there. While here he baptized three children of Lieutenant (afterwards Brig- 
adier-General) Rudolph Barnes Marcy. One of these became the wife of 
Major-General G. B. McClellan. 

day, siiiff hymns and read prayers. But Favrell soon overstepped the limits of his permit and 
attempted to say mass, minus tlie consecration, and to make processions accompanied hy the 
soldiers of Fort Howard. He made a trip to Europe with an Indian whom he everywhere ex- 
hihitod, and the presents often made to the latter found their way into the Frenchman's 
pock<!t. To crown his hypocrisy and imposition he attempted to start a church of his own, liut 
failed egregiously. In 1832, Very Rev. Frederic Rjve was sent to Green Bay to rid the coun- 
try of this impostor." 

This case and that of Eleazar Williams do not particularly commend the polities which 
by their advocates are praised as so much superior, for example, to the Cong-resational in this 
very matter of kt!(!|)inM: and initting unworthy men out of the office of relij^ious teacher, in 
these, days chureli (liscipliiu^ is ultimatiUy what it always should have been,— simply the with- 
drawal of fellowship or of approval. Such action has as much weight as there is reason for 
it, and may be tak^^n a cliui-cli or a council as widl as hy a so-called bishop or anv otlu^- ec- 
clesiastical authority. We do not suppo.se that our advocates of vigorous discipline desire 
power to impriso)!, hang or burn anybody. 



206 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

In the following year Dr. Satterlee tried, but in vain, to secure Mr. Por- 
ter as pastor of the chui'ch soon to be organized. 1835, September 21st, a 
meeting was held at which it was resolved '• that it is expedient to form a Pres- 
byterian church in this place." At an adjourned meeting held December 30th, 
a resolution was passed to invite " Rev. Cutting Marsh of the Stockbridge mis- 
sion to come and form a church in this place," and another "that said church 
shall be conducted upon the total abstinence princijile, from all intoxicating 
drinks." 

A journey of forty miles brought Mr. Marsh to this little company of be- 
lievers. On the evening of Saturday, 9th January, 1836, he organized the 
church with twelve members, five of whom came from the church at Mackinaw. 
"The old church there died some years ago," says Pastor William Crawford, 
writing in 1876, " but in the members it sent to Green Bay and elsewhere, it 
enjoys a perpetual life." The creed adopted by the new church is described as 
being "rigid and orthodox to the extent of heterodoxy." It was strongly Cal- 
vinistic. But there is a suspicion that the creed as found upon the records has 
been made to differ from tlie one actually adopted. Though Dr. Satterlee, the 
leading man in the movement, preferred the Congregational polity, the church 
voted to call itself Presbyterian. No one, however, seems to have been stren- 
uous on this point. The church has never been connected with any Presbytery, 
and the first case of discipline was the trial of one of the elders before the 
chui'ch. 

On the Sunday afternoon following the organization, which took place in a 
private house in Navarino, "public services were held in the militaiy hospital 
in Fort Howard." People from both villages attended. A candidate for mem- 
bership who doubted her baptism at the hands of a Romish priest received the 
rite from Mr. Marsh. "I remember distinctly," wrote Mrs. Satterlee forty 
years later, "that lovely, calm Sunday; the i)ale-faced convalescents sitting 
around ; the mirror-like appearance of the river in front ; the earnest prayers ; 
the service of song ; the stillness all around, making the presence of God seem 
nevery ar." 

Thus came into organized existence the first of Wisconsin's Puritan 
churches that has made a record of unbroken service to the present time. 



CHAPTEI\ XV. 



FORT WINNEBAGO. 

Among the main topographical features of the district embraced within 
Sauk and Cohimbia counties Professor R. D. Irving enumerates^ "the east and 
west ranges of the Baraboo ; the Wisconsin river, which traverses the area cen- 
trally from north to south, making a great bow eastward to double the eastern 
point of the uniting quartzite ranges ; the remarkable course of the Fox river, 
which, after flowing southwest directly towards the Wisconsin, turns abruptly 
north when but one and one-half miles from it, the two rivers traversing a flat 
sandy plain, without dividing ridge, and passing the one into the St. Lawrence, 
the other to the Gulf of Mexico." 

This portage in the otherwise unbroken water-course from Lake Michigan 
to the Mississippi is often mentioned by the early explorers. To the commerce 
of the days prior to the steamboat and the railway it was a serious obstruction. 
For though, as in 1828 when the fifth regiment of the United States infantry 
passed without obstruction on their way from St. Louis to Green Bay, it was 
sometimes overflowed so that the Wisconsin sent water to the sea through the 
Great Lakes as well as through the Mississippi, ^ the times when canoes could 
pass from one water-course to the other were very rare. 

To protect trade, perhaps to prevent extortion on the part of those en- 
gaged in the transportation business and, most of all, to command effectively a 
position of such importance, the United States government determined to build 
there a military post. Accordingly, in the summer of 1828, part of the first 
infantry (three companies) commanded by Major, afterward brevet Major- 
General, David Emmanuel Twiggs (who, 1861, February 18th, surrendered to 
the Confederates the United States forces in Texas), was ordered from Fort 
Howard to build Fort Winnebago at the Fox-Wisconsin portage. Almost noth- 
ing of the old fort is left though it has given name to a town. The garrison 
was withdrawn in 1845. 

As a matter of general interest, though not pertaining to the subject of 
this work, we may say that Jefferson Davis first entered active army service at 
Fort Crawford in 1829 ; was at Fort Winnebago the same year and remained 
there until 1831, when he was transferred to Yellow river, near Prairie du 



' Cliamberlin's " Geology of Wisconsin," volume II., page C80. 
'^ As it does now through the canal. 



208 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Chien on the opposite side of the Mississippi. In the same year he was again 
at Fort Crawford where he remained until about the time of his promotion 
which took i)lace 1833, March 4th. Zachary Taylor disliked Davis i and seems 
to have taken pains to keep him away from Fort Crawford. Nor was he pop- 
ular among the officers at Fort Winnebago where most of his life in the Wis- 
consin region was spent. A new broom sweeps clean and is sometimes fond of 
sweejnng. A certain -'fussiness" is alleged of Davis. This may have 1)een 
notiiing but attention to details, but whatever it was, it seems to have made liim 
disliked. While at Fort Winnebago the young West Pointer constructed cer- 
tain wonderful articles of furniture which were so unitpie that the ladies of the 
garrison dubbed them by the name of the inventor. The "Davis" was "un- 
questionably designed for clothes-press, store-room and china-closet; such at least 
were the uses to which Mrs. Twiggs had appropriated the one assigned to her." 
We have heard of John H. Kinzie as aiding in starting the first Sunday- 
school at Prairie du Chien. After his marriage he lived for a time at Fort 
Winnebago. His wife, from whose "Wau-bnn," already referred to, I have 
quoted above, was a faithful Christian, a member of the Episcopal church. " It 
was on Sunday," she writes, "that I most missed my eastern home. I thought 
that, perhaps, one of our number might be found wlio would read a portion of 
the church-service, and a sermon from one of our different selections. I ap- 
proached the subject cautiously. 'Are there none among the officers who are 
religiously disposed ? ' ' Oh, yes,' replied the one wliom I addressed, ' there is 

S ; when he is half tipsy, he takes his Bible and 'Newton's Works,' and 

goes to bed and cries over them; he tliinks in this way he is excessively pious.' 
The hope or any united religious service was. for the jjresent, laid aside." But 
efforts were made to secure a missionary. Soon Dr. Newhall of Galena, who 
became one of the first trustees of Beloit college, relieved for a time the post- 
suro-eon. It is probable that on his return he called F'ather Kent's attention to 
the needs of Fort Winnebago. But a man with a field of labor larger than 
many a Euroj)ean kingdom could not easily give time to all tlie places that 
called for his services. However, "in the course of the sjmng" (of 1833), con- 
tinues Mrs. Kinzie, "we received a visit from the Rev. Mr. Kent, and Mrs. 
Kent of Galena. This event is memorable, as being the first occasion on which 
the gospel, according to the Protestant faith, was preached at Fort Winni'bago.- 
The large parlor of the hospital was fitted up for the service, and gladly did 

' This the venerable George W. Jones of Dubuque, who know both Taylor and Davis, has 
told me, was not the case. But as tlic good, old Kentleinaii admires Davis so much that it is 
almost impossible for him to imagine that any rational man could dislike the Confederate cx- 
l)r(!sidont, my own opinion, as expressed above, remains unchanged. 

^ There had been Ronuin Catholic service in or near the Fort. "Mr. Mazzuchelli. a Ro- 
man Catholic priest, made a missionary visit to the portage, during our residence there and, 
after some instruction to them, about forty [of the Wiunebago Indian.s] consented to ho bap- 
tized." But Mrs. Kinzie doubts that tliey had much understanding of the doctrines of Chri.s- 
tianity or any desire to learn more. Ilowtnt'r, she states that an Indian wonuiii pointed to her 
erucitix in declininga glass of liquor which Mrs. Kinzie, believing the woman to be exhausted, 
had otTercd her. " I received this as a lesson more powerful than twenty .sermons. It was the 
first time in my life that I had ever seen spiritous liquors rejected upon a religious principle." 



FORT WINNEBA(i(). 209 

we say to each other, ' Let us go to the house of the Lord.' 

" For nearly tliree years had we lived here without the blessing of a pub- 
lie service of praise and thanksgiving. We regarded this (unnmencement as an 
omen of better times, and our little sewing society, worked with renewed indus- 
try, to raise a fund which might be available hereafter, in securing the perma- 
nent service of a missionary." Was not this the first of the many sewing 
societies of Wisconsin? 

Rev. Jeremiah Porter, addressing the Home Missionary society in a letter 
already quoted from, begun at Sault Ste. Marie, 1833, May 4th, and ended at 
Chicago ten days later, says that he has learned that ''at Fort Winnebago, 150 
miles t;) the northwest, they have already subscribed $400 for the support of a 
minister" who, when sent, would better go, he thinks, by way of Green Bay as 
there is no road from Chicago. Dr. Richard S. Satterlee, post-surgeon at Fort 
Howard writes also to the society, and adds to what follows a plea for the post 
at which he is stationed : " It gave me great pleasure to receive your letter of 
July 27th [1833], a few days since at Fort Winnebago; and I assure you it was 
a source of gratification to the officers and their families, and to many of the 
soldiers stationed there that there seemed some prospect that a minister would 
be sent to them. If one should be sent he will be well received and, I have no 
doubt, honorably sustained." 

At last the long desired missionary came. " During the last autumn," says 
the report of the American Board, given in 1835, "Mr. Barber, i who was then 
connected with the Stockbridge mission, spent some weeks at Fort Winnebago. 
While there his labors were attended with the divine blessing, and a number of 
persons connected with the garrison were hopefully born again. In February 
(1835), Mr. Marsh, by invitation, visited the place and organized a church 

' R-iw Abel Lester Barber, tlie first resident minister in Wisconsin to labor under com- 
mission from the American Home Missionary society, was born at Otis, Massachusetts, 1803, 
December 28tli, and graduated at Amherst college, in the class of 1831. He received his 
training in theology from R ^v. Allen M'Leaii, of Simshury, Connecticut, who preached the 
sermon at bis ordination. This took place at West Hartford, in the same state, Wednesday, 
25th September, 1833. He and his wife,— he was marrijd on the 11th of the mouth in which 
he received ordination,— devoted themselves to mission service. They arrived at Mackinaw 
1833, November 11 til. There was some thought of their starting a mission among the Otta- 
was, but Mr Barber's health became impair e-d, and, perhaps to avoid the lake climate, he and 
his wife, in July, 1834, removed to Stockbridge. Thence, as we have learned, Mr. Barber 
went to Fort Winnebago. Later we shall find him at Milwaukee, where, for a short time, he 
served as pastor, and then removed to a farm. Afterward he became an editor. For a time 
he was connected with a Prairioville (Waukesha) paper and later with the Free Democrat of 
Milwaukee. About 184t» he removed to Kenosha. In that year or the following, while the 
cholera was raging at Kenosha, Mr. Barber, " broken in health and somewhat discouraged, 
offered his services to the city to work among those stricken with tlu^ disease. In one instance 
111! lirought to his own home a little boy who iiatl been down with tiie cholera but was consid- 
ered convalescent, and afterward two of bis own children died of the disease, and a third," 
— a son from whose letter I make these quotations,— "was .so near to death, apparently, that 
a shroud was provided for him also, as I have been told." 

Tiiose who knew Mr. Barber .say that he had certain intirmities of temper that made it 
almost impossible for others to get on with linn. But tbesj we are glad to forget when we 
think of his heroism, and of his .service in the anti-slavery cause. H ; died of nervous pros- 
tration at Wallingford, Connecticut, 187(>, October 7th. 

At Kenosha Mr. and Mrs. Barber became members of the Baptist church and continued in 
that communion to the end of their lives. 



210 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

thei-e, consisting of eleven members, some of whom had been members of other 
churches, and others liad recently entered the kingdom. During the last fall 
and winter there was more or less serious attention to the concerns of the soul, 
and a numl)er of hopeful conversions, in not less than three or four of the mili- 
tary posts on the northwestern frontier." 

Brief is the remaining history of this little church. Among Mr. Marsh's 
papers, writes his daughter, is "a letter from Fort Winnebago written by Dr. 
Charles McDougall," the post-surgeon, dated 1<S35, October 14th. ''In it he 
speaks of 'our little church,' and with the exception of [sermons by] INIr. 
Brown and Mr. Stevens of their having liad no preaching since my father was 
there." 

The need at Fort Winnebago was long a burden on the mind and heart 
of the few brave men like Kent and Porter who were struggling with a linrden 
too heavy for them. The answer to that need was so long delayed tliat the op- 
portunity seems, humanly speaking, to have been lost. Yet it was fitting that 
one (Mr. Barber) who, by way of the Great Lakes, came West, sent to Indians 
by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions should, at this 
place of the dividing of the waters, ^ join his labor to that of another (Father 
Kent) who, sent by the Home Missionary society to minister to the whites, 
came hither by way of the Ohio and the Mississippi. Religious effort had 
found a place of blending, and made prophecy of the time, then drawing near, 
when the interior of tlie proposed commonwealth of Wisconsin should no longer 
separate, with its forests and empty prairies, two distinct ai"eas of settlement 
but, with farms and homes, join into one, socially and commercially, the banks 
of the Mississippi and the shores of Lake Michigan. 

1 This place has been often traversed, no douht, from the time wlien man first occupied 
the region i)etween Lake Michigan and tlie Mississippi. Tlie Maseontiiis, we may be sure, 
knew of tliis route when tliey told .li^^an Nicolet of the "Great Water." Probably Ridisson 
and Grosseilliers journeyed by this way to the Mississippi in the Summer of 11)5!). If so, it is 
probable that they were the first white men to come to this famous " Carrying Place," as 
Carver calls it. "I always understood," says "Colonel" John Shaw {Hist. Coll,, VII., 221). 
that when the trade between Mackinaw and the Wisconsin and Upper Mississippi liad be- 
come important, the early Fn nch adventurers were induced to make a sort of pole or cordu- 
roy road over a marsh, for a mile in length, between the Fo.k and Wisconsin, and construct a 
large, clumsily formed wagon on which to transport boats across the portage, of ten tons bur- 
then. This wagon was fully fifty-eight feet in lengtli. The lading was carried on the backs 
of the boatmen or IiidiaTis, or on the rude carriage." 

Hither, during the Revolutionary war (1778, May 27th) came, in Britisli service, a nepliew 
of Langlade's, Charles Gautier. with his party of "Scioux and foUes avoines[Menomonees]. 
and did my carrying." He calls the place "the portage of the Siskoinsin."— a name that he 
uses not only as that of the Wisconsin river had also, apparently, as that of the country 
through which he was passing. However, as there was a .Sauk chief .Siskoin.siu, (iauiter's 
r«f(!rence may Im merely to the country claimed by said chief or l>y his people. To "all the 
Villages of Siskoinsin '" had been brought a " so-called belt [of wampum] of the liostonniens," 
that is, Americans. 

In the war of 1812 Francis I.,c Roy, a brother in-law of Jacques Viean,— who liiniself, 
about 1707 or 17!>H, was stationed hero by the Northwest Fur company,— had at the p<)rtage 
what Si-'cri'tary Thwaites calls "a tran.sportation plant." The us;i of a horse in this business 
was began by Laurent I'.arth in 1703. The date of building the road that Shaw speaks of,— 
provided it was built at all,— seems to be unknown. 



CHAPTEI^XVI. 



BY THE LAKE AND ON THE PRAIRIE. 

In the autumn of 1779, his majesty's sloop of war Felicity was making 
the circuit of Lake Michigan. She was one of a fleet of eight vessels that, in 
the American i-evolution, made sure to the British the command of that lake as 
well as of those then more important, Erie and Huron. On a stormy morning, 
Thursday, 4th November, her crew, rated the preceding January at five men, now 
evidently larger, cast anchor in Milwaukee bay. To use the precise words of 
her pilot, Samuel Robertson, whose seamanship was doubtless better than his 
spelling. ''At 8 A. M. a verry strong gale; we came too in 4 fathoms watter; 
hoist out the boat ; sent out M'Gautley & 4 hands on shoer with difficulty. 

* * At 2 this afternoon M'Gautly returned with 3 indeans and a 

french man who lives at Millwakey, named Morong nephew to Monsier St. Pier." 

It was a bad omen that the Felicity brought rum and tobacco ''to Deliver 
[to] the indeans at Millwakey which is a mixed tribe of different nations." 
Suggestive description ! These presents, too, had an object, and that, as is usu- 
ally the case with such gifts, a mischievous one. "M'Gautley also told them 
the manner governor Sinclair could wish them to Behave, at which they seemed 
well satisfied." A natural combination: rum, bad politics and peihaps insincer- 
ity. For otherwise the Milwaukee Indians seem at that time to have been 
well disposed towards the Americans or, rather, unfriendly to the British. We 
remember De Peyster's "renegates of Milwakie." And in the second war with 
Britain the indignant Dickson writes under date of 1814, February 6th: "I 
will give nothing more to the Indians of Millwackee; they are a sett of Impos- 
tors." Eight days later he utters a threat of fierce vengeance against a "Pou- 
tewatamie " who had come to " AVinebagoe Lake," where Dickson then was, 
"with an intention of cutting us off. He had previously send round tobacco to 
the young people about Milwackee to come here with him to dance. Perhaps 
lie may come this way again; if he does he will not return." 

Before the voyage of the Felicity the site and harbor of Milwaukee had 
been frequently visited in the way of exploration and trade. Who was the first 
to come? That no one knows. It was by way of the Illinois river and the 
Chicago portage that Joliet and Marquette returned from their fani!)us voyage 
of 1673. As they voyaged down Lake Michigan to the mission of St. Francis 



212 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Xavier, — which they reached in September, 1674, — they may have entered 
Milwaukee harbor. Hither came Marquette in the following month (1674, Oc- 
tober 26th) on his voyage from Green Bay to the site of Chicago. Perhaps it 
was in the harbor of Milwaukee that La Salle, five years later, found refuge 
from an October storm. No priest made his home here in the early years, nor 
was there a permanent trading-station until Alexander La Framboise removed 
hither from Mackinaw. This, Alexander Grignon thinks, was about 1785. ' 
" At first he went there himself and after a while he returned to Mackinaw, 
and sent a brother [Francis] to manage the business for him, who remained 
there several years, and raised a family." A daughter, Josette, was married in 
the summer of 1817, at Mackinaw to Lieutenant John S. Pierce, a brother of 
the late exPresident of the United States. " A singularly beautiful girl," it 
is said that she was. But the shadow of death is over our little romance of 
the love of the young soldier and his sweet wife, almost the first-born of 
Milwaukee's fair daughters. She died in 1821. 

The evidence of a letter written by his own hand shows that Francis La 
Framboise was living at "Milwaukis, 20 Feb., 1802." Through his mismanage- 
ment, says Grignon, the brother (Alexander) for whom he was doing business, 
failed. However, the Northwest Fur Company had entered the field and in 
1795 made Milwaukee one of its places of business. ^ That fact quite as much 
as any '"mismanagement" may account for the failure of an individual trader. 
The company's trade along the western shore of Lake Michigan seems to have 
been under the superintendence of Jacques Vieau, who made his home at Green 
Bay, coming to Milwaukee, and that with interrujjtions, for the winter fur-trade. 
He gave aid to the British in the war of 1812. His successor in trade at Mil- 
waukee was Laurent Solomon Juneau, who became his son-in-law. Of Juneau, 
a son of Vieau says that he came to Milwaukee in August, 1818; that his 
" home also became Green Bay and remained such until about 1834 or 1835, 
when Milwaukee began to grow and Juneau platted the village ^ and settled there 
permanently. Juneau was one of the last to recognize that Milwaukee was 
destined to be a permanent settlement, and had to be persuaded by his friends 
into taking advantage of the fact. Green Bay remained his home and tliat <if 
my father, despite their business interests at Milwaukee." 

Juneau did not become a citizen of the United States until 1831. His 
name is found in the Green Bay poll-list as late as 1834. 

It will be remend>ered that the treaty with the Menomonees'* made at 
Washington 1831, February 8th, ceded to the United States government a great 
tract of land, including all that lies between the Milwaukee river and Lake 

1 The " History of Milwaukee " (Andreas) says: " In 1784, Alexander La Framboise erect- 
ed an ainple building of logs which he occupied some lime." 

* Other posts were established in tlie same yeSr at Kewaunee, Manitowoc and Sheboygan. 

* " Juneaix and I were joint owners of the original plat of Milwaukee." " His first hint of 
the prospective value of his location at Milwaukee came from me."— Morgan Lewis Mar- 
tin, Hist. Coll. XL, 40(!. 

4 Often called the Stambaugh treaty. It is the one that, as amended, provided a home 
for the Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. See page GO. 



BY THE LAKE AND ON THE PRAIRIE. 213 

Michigan. Between this cession and that made by the Winnebagoes at Praii"ie 
du Chien, 1829, July 29th, were lands claimed by the Pottawatomies and ceded 
by them according to a treaty finally ratified 1835, February 21st. ^ 

On the evening of Monday, 8th December, 1834, a party of three men, 
Samuel Brown, Paul Burdick and Horace Chase, passed Vieau's old trading- 
p )st. They had started from Chicago on the 4th, had come overland ^ and not 
forgetting to honor the day of the resurrection had rested on the Christian Sab- 
bath. All were seeking " claims." These found, the three friends started back 
to Chicago on the 14th. 

In Cliicago, though following the jieaceful occupation of builder, Samuel 
Brown had come to be known as "Captain." Western admiration is apt to ex- 
press itself in military titles. And the most cynical must acknowledge that the 
spirit of the soldier is needed by the pioneer. 

Early in the spring of 1835 Mr. Brown came again to Milwaukee without 
his family, but soon went back after them. The journey to their new home 
was one of five days, two after leaving Racine. On this part of the trip they 
were first to take a wagon over what was known later as the "• lake road." 
Thus "the emigrants had to cut much of their way before them."^ Food for 
the horses gave out and their owner was obliged to feed them on bread. 

We do not know the precise date of the arrival in Milwaukee of Samuel 
Br:>wn and family. Tiie hiuor of miking "'the first raised bread" in what was 
to become the metropolis of Wisconsin has often been claimed for Mrs. Brown. 
It has been said of her that " she was the second American woman to settle in 
Milwaukee county, and the first in the present city."'* Her family maintain the 
correctness of this statement.^ By the children of Mrs. Paul Burdick a like 
claim is made in behalf of their mother. These give 1835, May 10th, as the 
d ite of their parents' arrival at Milwaukee. There the Browns and the Bur- 
dicks became neighbors. 

Having, as he thought, secured his ''claim" by placing his family thereon, 
Mr. Brown returned to Cliicago for his goods. ^ There lie met his brother Dan- 
iel, a man of kindred spirit who had come with his wife to find a home in the 

' The last of the Pottawatomies were not removed from the neighborhood of Milwaukee 
until June, 1838. 

2 ■' They found a house at Grosse Point (now Evaiiston), where resided a Frenchman named 
Quiuette. Froui Grosse Point they saw no house until five or six miles west of where Racine 
now is, at which point lived Louis and Jacques Vieau, Jr., brothers in-law of Solomon Jun- 
eau. The next house foun<l by the homeseekers was that of Paul Vieau, which stood on a 
liigli bluff south of the river."— " Milwaukee Sentinel." IHHC, September Und. 

^ Dr. G. T. Ladd, formerly pastor of the Spring street (now^ (irand aveiuie) Congregational 
cliurch, Milwaukee. 

4" History of Milwaukee," published by the Western Historical Company (A. T. Andreas). 

'' The recollections of Mrs. Anj^eline L. Hill, Samuel Brown's eldest daughter, seem to hii 
especially vivid. She remembers distinctly that her parents and their family reached Mil- 
waukee on Saturday. But the day of the month she can not recall. The 10th, the day of the 
arrival of the Burdicks was Sunday. 

(! Making ready for the season's building, Sanuiel Brown hired a number of workmen in 
Chicago, He bought a large boat with sail and oars. Some of his men came to Milwaukee in 
that. They camped on the sIumhs at nigiit. Others came overland driving some cows and per- 
liaps a yoke of oxen. The men got to Milwaukee before their employer did. 



214 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

new settlement. Having hired a vessel of thirty tons' burden with a crew con- 
sisting of cai)tain and mate, the brothers Brown left Chicago Monday evening 
and arrived at Milwaukee early in the morning of Wednesday, 10th June, 
1835. As they entered the mouth of the river the men got ashore to tow the 
boat, and the tiller was put into the hands of Mrs. Daniel Brown. ^ Though 
she obediently followed directions in the matter of steering, the help of a long 
pole was occasionally needed to keep the boat from becoming fast upon the 
muddy banks. ^ 

Little houses could hold more in those days than they can now. and for a 
time the brothers made a home togetlier, in the cabin that Samuel built-' before 
he brought his own family. But a larger house was a necessity and one was 
built close beside the other. It was of logs covered with "shake" shingles,^ 
had two rooms on the first floor and a loft overhead. "As soon as it was fin- 
ished (it might have been two weeks). Mr. Samuel Brown called in a few neigh- 
bors and held service in liis own house, reading a sermon and making the first 
l)ublic prayer in Milwaukee." Thus writes his brother's wife. The "two 
weeks" are to be reckoned from the 10th of June. She thinks that the sermon 
was one of Finney's. Mr. Ladd tells us that about twenty were present and 
that others took part beside the leader. This service may have been held on 
the 21st or the 28th of June. 

"Then and there," ^ said Dr. Ladd in the sermon already quoted from, 
"was formed the first Sunday school" in Milwaukee "of Avliich some still 
connected with us were original members." *> 

^ Mi-s. Brown was the fourth white woman to make lier home in Milwaukee. In 1844 she 
and her hushantl,— now fallen asleep,— r moved to Slushoygan, where she stili resides. Mr. 
(Daniel) Brown died 18!»2. March 23rd. His brother Samuel, who preceded him to Milwau- 
kee, died there 1874, December 2'2nd. 

2 The Milwaukee river then tiowed into the lake half a mile south of the present outlet, 
which is the work of man, not of nature. The first steamboat that " landed " at Milwaukee 
came 1835, .lune 17th. We may be sure that it did not enter the river. 

^ Or bought. 

4 The " shake" shingles that covered the first house, or cabin, are thus devscrib?d by Rn-. 
G. T. Ladd, now of Yale university, in his memorial sn-mon on Deacon Samuel Brown : " Oak 
shingles, four feet long, bound down with poles which were withed to the lo.?s of the house." 

5 That is, if the services spoken of by Mrs. Daniel Brown, and those referred toby Mr. 
Ladd are the same. It is Mrs. Hill's impression that, regularly on the Sabbaths after bring- 
ing his family to Milwaukee, and until a minister came, her father hold in his own hoine'a 
public religious service. 

(> The house in which the little congi-egation met was in what is now the block bounded 
by Galena, Cherry, Second and Third Streets, near the northeast corner. Near by. where is 
now the corner of Cherry and Si'cond streets, was Mr. Burdick's home. When thes(i houses 
were built their owners expected to buy at the approaching government sale, which was at 
Green Bay and did not begin until the 31st of August, the land on which they stooJ. But of 
this Byron Kilbourn, getting ahead of them, took possession by means of a " float," that is, a 
United States warrant good for a given number of acres of unoccupied land. Technically all 
government land was unoccupied until it was sold and settler.s were mere trespassers. Yet 
their rights were so far respected that one who would take land by means of a " float " must 
needs take oath that there was no actual s-ttler ^pon it. He who swore falsely incurred the 
deepest contempt and bitter hatred of a pioneer coninmnity. Mr. Burdick's daughter has 
told the writer that but for her mother's entreaties Mr. Kilbourn Avould have been "tarred 
and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail." Mrs. Burdick even opened her home to Mr. 
Kilbourn when with wif(! and child he could find no other place to stay. Accommodations 
were limited then in Milwaukee. . ,, „ ,'•,, ^ 1 

In order not to have an enemy, or at least an opposer, m Mr. Brown, Kilbourn traiisferred 



BY THE LAKE AND ON THE PRAIIUE. 21.-) 

If Mark Robinson, a Methodist, and the first clergyman to come to Mil- 
waukee, was in the village when this meeting was held, none of the little gath- 
ering, so far as can now be learned, knew of it. However, Dr. Chase, who had 
forgotten his name, says that Mr. Robinson came in June and preached in his 
(Cliase's) log house. This w^as on the lake shore, below the old mouth of the 
river and near what is now the end of Mitchell street. "Of the subsequent 
history of Mr. Robinson we know little. His name appears no more (after 
1835) in the Conference minutes." ^ 

The first resident minister in Milwaukee was Abel Lester Barber of Mack- 
inaw, the Stockbridge mission and Fort Winnebago. He, also, preached in Dr. 
Chase's cabin according to its owner's statement. Of this our living authorities 
Daniel Brown aud wife, have no knowledge. But they do remember that he 
came to the little settlement almost before place could be found for himself, 
wife and child. Soon, however, a cabin was built for him "on the Chestnut 
street hill."^ It was beside the old Indian trail that led toward Waukesha 
and probably stood near where is now the First German Methodist church. 
In the "Home Missionary" for September, 1835, is the caption: 

" WISCONSIN TERKITORY. 

"This is the first time we believe that we have had occasion to place the 
name of this region as a caption to our correspondence. 

" From the Rev. A. L. Barber, Milwalkee, Wisconsin Territory, west of 
Lake Michigan : 

" 'I came here about eighteen days ago'^ and found a population of be- 
tween two and three hundred, mostly from the states and of New England 
origin. 

•''The impression is extensively prevalent that this place will, in a few 
years, be second in importance to none on the shores of Lake Michigan except 
Chicago. Four physicians and nearly thirty mechanics are already here, with 
a view to permanent residence, though one year has not yet elapsed since an 
Indian trader and the men in his employ were the only white inhabitants. 

" 'We have twenty-four professors of religion, belonging to evangelical 
denominations, of which number fifteen are in connection with Presbyterian or 
Congregational churches. 

"• 'A Bible class had been commenced two Sabbaths before my arrival and 

to him the tract on which stood tlie houses that Brown himself had built. Mr. J. S. Buck in 
liis ■• Pioneer History of Milwaukee," says that " tlie first lot sold upon the west side was from 
Byron Kilbourn to the late Deacon Sanuiel Brown, October Kitli, IS.Sf)." 

1 History of Metliodism in Wisconsin, by Rev. P. S. Beiuuitt, A. M. The Rock River Con- 
ference then ext jiided indefinitely northward and is tliu one to wliicli Mr. BvMinett makes ref- 
erence. 

^ Mrs. Daniel Brown. 

^ We do not know the precise datt; of Mr. Barber's arrival, but as he was in " Milwalkee " 
eighteen days before he wrote, and his letter, borne by the slow mails of those days reached 
New York iiitinis for a mi^a^an ;, the "copy" for which was apparently made up by the 
lifteenth of August or sooner, we may reasonably suppose that his comiuK was as soon a.s the 
early part of .July. 

The population of two or three liundred was of course not a settled one. 



216 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

is attended by about thirty. A weekly prayei" meeting to be held Wednesday 
evening has been established.' " 

Mr. Barber records the fact that: "We have infidelity, coai'se and elamor- 
ons, much profane swearing, contempt of the Sabbath, most determined irre- 
ligion. A sti'ong sweeping current of worldly enterj^rise, a push and scramble 
after wealth prevail as a matter of course." 

At this time Samuel and Daniel Brown were building for Mr. Juneau a 
"store" on the west side of the street that now bears the name East Water. 
In this building ^ Mr. Barber found a place to ])reach and "there," says Daniel 
Brown, "we continued to worship until it was fiuished and g03ds put in for 
trade. Then we had other buildings under way that we occupied all the fall." 

The service in Mr. Juneau's store-room seems to have been the first of the 
kind in Milwaukee outside of a private house. What we may call Milwaukee's 
first choir- led in song. Indians stood without listening, until Mr. Juneau, 
thinking apparently that their presence detracted from the dignity of the occa- 
sion, drove them off with a club. It may be that the date of this service was 
August 23rd. 

In its issue for February, 1836, the "Home Missionary" makes the fol- 
lowing announcement: "The board have recently resolved to assume the sup- 
port of as many labjrers as the parent society shall be able to procure for the 
territories of Ouisconsin and Missouri, and two missionaries have already been 
stationed on these fields, the Rev. Mr. B.irber at Milvvalke, Ouisconsin Terri- 
tory, and the Rev. Cyrus L. Watson at Dubuque's Mills, in Missouri."-* 

The report of the Home Missionary society made at the annual meeting in 
May, 1836, makes mention of Mr. Barber's work. He had written: "Temper- 
ance gaining ground; field extensive and needy." 

Mr. Barber's commission from the Home Missionary society was for six 
months from the 1st of July, 1835. He may have rendered pastoral service 

' From Daniel Brown and wife I received the impression that this structure occupied the 
northwest corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets,— the site now occupied by tlie only 
" sky scraper " of which Milwaukee can boast. But this particular building put U!> by the 
brothers Brown has been identified by William W. Wiffhtin "The Old Wliite Church," as 
the " Pioneer Store." Of the place where it stood Mr. Wigiit says that "the most northerly 
of the stores of the Bradley & Metcalf Company, at No. li'.Ki East Water Street, rests upon the 
precise spot." 

■■' It consisted of Mrs. Daniel Brown, soprano; Miss Susan Burdick, Samuel Brown and 
Nelson Oliii, tenors; Daniel Brown and Thomas Olin, bassos. 

* An error, What is now Iowa ceased to ba a part of Missouri Territory (not the .state) 
when, 18;:i4, June 28th, Michigan was enlarged .so as to include all the region north of the 
state of Missouri and .south of the British Possessions, lying bjtween the Mississippi and the 
Mi.s.souri. 

Another way of stating the fact is to say that all of the Louisiana purchase, lying north of 
the present state of that name, was, in 1804, made the "district of Louisiana." This, in 
.lune, 1812, was organized as "Missouri Territory." From this, in 1811), were separated the 
regions that now form tlu^ states of Mis.souri and Ai'kan.sas. Then, in 18;i4, as aforesaid, that 
portion of the vast me-sopotamia of the Mississippi and the Missouri, lying north of the 
.southern boundary line of Iowa, was made, " for temporary purposes," a portion of the Terri- 
tory of Michigan. 

I hope that I have not taken an unpardonahla liberty in venturing to use " mcsopotamia " 
("between the rivers ") as a common noun- We need the word. There are other me.sopota- 
mias besides the one between tlie Euplirates and the Tigiis. 



BY THE LAKE AND <^X THE PRAIRIE. 217 

after that time expired. Rev. Henry Gregory, an Episcopal minister, who, in 
Januiry, 1836. spent a 8un(hiy at Milwaukee, speaks of there being a "Pres- 
byterian" minister in the place. Mr. Gregory was asked to officiate, "which I 
did," he says, "and preached in the afternoon; and that was the first service, 
according ta the liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal church, in Milwaukee, and 
was held on the first Sunday after the P]piphany, January 10, 1836." With 
this narrative it is interesting to compare one given the writer of these pages 
by Mrs. Daniel Brown, and hereto subjoined: 

On a Sunday, perhaps in January, 1836, the little congregation had met in 
a building which the brothers Brown were putting up for Talbot Dousman on 
the southwest corner of Huron and East Water streets. They had no minister. 
Dr. J. J. Kemper, so long the Protestant Episcopal bishop of Wisconsin had 
come to Milwaukee on his first missionary visit to the place. He came to the 
little congregation and was invited to lead their worship. This he did after the 
forms commonly used in Congregational churches, offering prayer without book 
and wearing no gown. He pleased his heai*ers greatly and in the afternoon all 
come out to join in worship according to the forms of his own denomination. 

I have little doubt tliat these accounts are of one and the same incident, 
that the officiating minister of the day was Mr. Gregory, and not Dr. Kemper. 
Whoever it was, it is pleasant to remember this fraternal beginning of the work 
of the Episcopal church in Milwaukee. 

If Mrs. Brown is right in her recollections, it would seem that Mr. Bar- 
ber's service as pastor had come to an end in January, 1836. ^ But meetings 
were not given up because Mr. Barber moved upon a "claim" and quit preach- 
ing. There was an admirable vigor of Christian sentiment among some of 
those early settlers. - 

In the number for March, 1837, the "Home Missionary" contains an ap- 
peal from Milwaukee for a minister. "An attempt has been made to form a 
church on the Congregational Union plan which, as I understand it, means to 
l)reak down all other denominational distinctions and to establisli one on their 
ruins. This has been proposed and advocated by a young clergyman from west- 
ern New York. * * The population at present is about 1500." 

Tlie audacious young man who, according to this evident misrepresentation, 
Jiad undertaken so gi-eat a task was .Tared Fordham Ostrander, who came to 
Milwaukee in 1836, probably in the latter part of the year. "He preached 
Sabbaths for six months," says his wife, "from house to house, thei-e being no 
chnich building or school-house in the then village of one thousand inhabitants, 

' No doubt lie continued to sjrve the coniinunity in various ways as a minister might. 
Tlius he ollic'iatod at one of the early marriages in Milwaukee, that of Barzillai Douglas and 
Harriet M. Church, 18;i(i, .July 17th. Mr. Doitglas is the only man living who was elected to 
office at the first election held at Milwaukee (183.'>, September f 0th). He now lives at Brod- 
head, Wi.sconsin. 

^ It is remembered that Mrs. Samuel Brown refused utterly to cook fish caught on Sunday 
by hor husband's workmen. Nor would she givi; the use of any of her kitchen utensils when 
they proposed to do the cooking themselves. Some may think that she wa»s too strict. But 
lier strictness showed conscience.* Does the prevailing laxity show anything as good? 



21S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

and no organized church. He endeavored with a few earnest Chi-istians to or- 
ganize a union church, as thei'e were so few of each denomination, but failed, 
as other ministers came in and Christians were divided up into small, weak 
churches." " A Congregationalist, a very good man and a fair preacher," says 
Daniel Brown in speaking of Mr. Ostrander. He had come West with an edu- 
cational project in mind. This he sought to carry out at Aztalan whither he 
removed in 1838. 

There was no organization of a Congregational oi Presbyterian church un- 
til the .spring of 1837. " Daring the pi'eceding time," -says Daniel Bi'own, "we 
had all met together as Christians. Such men came in as Deacon Hinman, A. 
Finch, Jr., Harrison Reed, the three Clintons, Deacon Mendell, Deacon Love 
and many others. As loving disciples of the dear Saviour we talked of church 
organization, and it was agreed that when a vote was taken the church should 
be called as the voters wished, each, one showing preference." In February, 
1837, the late John Ogden wrote earnest letters to Mr. Marsh of Stockbridge 
and to Rev. Moses Ordway, then serving as pastor at Green Bay, "urging tliem 
to come to Milwaukee and establish a church. Down through the Wisconsin 
woods, feeling their way by blazed trees, stumbling along Indian trails, braving 
February storms, traveled these men of God toward the Macedonian cry. Af- 
ter four days of exposure they reached their destination." i 

Though it is very probable that a church-liome on the west side of the 
river was then building for the little congregation, it seems that most of them 
lived on the east side. There, accordingly, — ^in the court-house, — were held, 
1837, April 13th, the services by which was constituted the First Pres- 
byterian church of Milwaukee. ^ On the 25th of the same month Rev. 
Gilbert Crawford of Albion, New York, was chosen pastor. Upon this service 
lie entered the following July. 

A church build; ng, the first in Milwaukee, had been completed before Mr. 
Crawford's arrival and was dedicated when he began his pastorate there. It 
seems that this first church in Milwaukee was also the first in Wisconsin (save 
those at Indian mission stations), erected by Protestants for divine worship.-* 
It was built by Samuel Brown and, according to his brother's recollections, was 
begun the autumn or winter before its dedication."* It stood on Second street 
near Wells, '^ was painted white, and would seat one hundred fifty persons. It 
was used as a hou^e of worship until August, 1840. 



1 "The Old White Cluu-ch." by William \V. Wight. 

''^ The Presbyterian polity was adopted by a ma.iority of one. Deacon Daniel Brown and 
wife make the statsment that "the time [of orsanization] was chanKed to one day sooner, and 
six of our C'onsregational members were out of town. * * Part of our number expi-ct- 
ed sometime in the course of tlie year to move to Waukesha,'" Inasmuch as the remoxal 
was actually made, it seems probable that the majority of those who remained preferred the 
Presbyterian polity. The first church at Waukefflia was Congregational. 

2 Tl»e Methodist congregation at Platteville was using as a church a little log building put 
np for a .iusticc's office. 

4Probably he bore most of the cost, $619.91. 

'■> It was on lot thirteen, block fifty six, according to K3V. S. A. Dwinnell. He adds thai it 
was the first painted church in the Territory. 



BY THE LAKE AND OX THE PRATKIE. 219 

This First chuvch of Milwaukee, liaving hecome ore with the North Pres- 
byterian, organized in 1849, January 31st, is now Inimanuel. Its influence has 
been gr^at, and its history has been one of prosperity and good. If we consider 
tliis church as really existing before its formal organization, we must put first 
in the list of its pastors, A. L. Barber, then J. F. O.strander. Nor should we 
forget Moses Ordway's temporary service. Then, July, 1837, came Rev. Gil- 
l)ert Crawford. He seems to have been a leader in the organization at Milwau- 
kee, 1839, January 17th, of the first "Presbytery of Wisconsin," a body which 
the ecclesiastical events of more than half a century have metamorphosed into 
the "Congregational Convention of Wisconsin." The ohl church suffered divis- 
ion that, in the providence of God, its aggressive sister, Plymouth, might come 
into life, burning with the revival spirit and the heat of the anti-slavery conflict. 
And it was from the pastorate of the First church that, at the call of Father 
Kent and others, Aaron Lucius Chapin went to become president of Beloit 
college. 

But these events belong to a later time than that of unnamed Wisconsin. 
Ours is a story of exjilorers, traders, missionaries and pioneers. Of the last 
class those who came to mine, — at least many or the most of them, — had not 
so much the i)urpose of permanent settlement as of quickly acquiring wealth. 
But in the southeastern part of Michigan-west-of-the-lake men came with intent 
from the first of making homes. For such a purpose, there is scarcely a fairer 
land under the sun. But nature seemed to greet the new-comers with a frown. 
Thus in the summer of 1835 there was in the neighborhood of Racine frost 
every month. 1 Many immigrants turned away. Supjdies of food came mostly 
by the way of the lakes. Fioui*, wdiich during the spring and summer cost from 
twenty to thirty dollars a barrel, was in the autumn still as high as fourteen. 
John T. Kingston who gives these facts- adds that he was in Chicago before 
the opening of navigation in 1835 and saw the last barrel of flour in the mar- 
ket sold for twenty-aight dollars. The following winter, Mr. Kingston says, 
••was unusually hard on the new com3rs; they were mostly without sufficient 
means to buy the necessary provisions to last through the (-old season. Many 
families lived entirely upon potatoes, and some even upon oats hulled and after- 
wards boiled. But ganie was plenty." 

Soon came also the want of money brought about by the financial stress 
of 1837. Nor was the scarcity of food so soon at an end as one might expect 
in a countrj' as fertile as southeastern Wisconsin. " I believe," M'rote Rev. Cy- 
rus Nichols in tha "Home Missionary" for July, 1838, "nearly one-half of the 
people are destitute of meat; not a few families within the circle of my ac- 
(juaintance are subsisting on potatoes and milk. IVIany during the past winter 
had nothing to eat for weeks in succession but potatoes and salt, and many, I 
am informed, subsisted weeks on turni^js alone. There is no credit and almost 
no current money. Labor will not procure money or provisions except to a 

^ " I'.ark from the iiiiincdiatp lako sliorc and cast of Fox viyet."— Hint. Coll. VII., 338. 
This Fox river is the one that How.s into tlie Illinois. 
'■' Sue reference in iireccdinj^- note. 



1^20 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

very limited extent." " Hard times," surely, there were in those early days. . 

Yet in the "Home Missionary" for October, 1838, the immigration into 
to Wisconsin is reported to be at the rate of four thousand a month. In the 
number for April, 1839, we are told that '"the inhabitants live better this year 
than the last, yet very few have what they used to call the necessaries of life." 
"Our missionary at Racine," says the editor, "received but $60 in two 
years from the people." No doubt the good man remembered the ajjostolic in 
junction, "trust not in uncertain riches." But we wonder if he would have 
written, as Rev. Stephen Peet did in the report of a famous tour of exi)loration 
published, in the "Home Missionary" for September, 1838, "The financial 
struggle is over in Wisconsin." 

It would seem that Mr. Nichols was the first resident minister at Racine.^ 
" We greatly need help here," he wrote in the " Home Missionary " for Janu- 
ary, 1838. " I have seen no Presbyterian or Congregational minister since 
we arrived here in August, 1836. There is no such minister between here and 
Chicago, a distance of sixty-five miles, but one between this jjlace and Green Bay, 
about one hundred and fifty miles, and none between this place and the Missis- 
sippi river which is more than two hundred miles distant. Indeed I believe 
there are but three or four Presbyterian or Congregational ministers in this Ter- 
ritory on this side of the Mississippi river. * * . The number of min- 
isters of other denominations is less than is usual in a new country. The 
Methodist and Baptist preachers are comjiaratively few." 

But an earlier story than that told by Mr. Nichols deserves at least a few 
words. It was on the 10th of October, 1699, that white men first came to tlie 
Che-pe-ka-taw sibi,^ or Root river, which they or other early French explorers 
called by the corresponding name in their own language, Racine. These men 
were of two parties, one under command of Francis Morgan de Vincennes who in 
1702 founded the first settlement in Indiana. The other party was one of Jes- 
uit missionaries who remained in the vicinity seven days trying to find a port- 
age to the Fox (tributary to tlie Illinois). It is to these, perhaps, that we owe 
the name Racine. 

In November, 1834, Captain Gilbei't Knapp brought to the moutli of Ra- 
cine river the first settlers there, William and Andrew J. Luce, brotliers from 
Indiana. In honor of Captain Knapj) the new settlement was called for a 
time Fort (rilbert. 

Though among the early settlers was William Sell, a local i)reacher who 
had been government blacksmith at Fort Dearborn, it is tliotight tliat the first 
religious service at or near^ the mouth of "Root river" was in June or July, 
1835 by Rev. Jesse Walker of whom we have heard as ])rea(^liing at Chicago 
at an early time. Father Walker, as he wi\tS deservedly called, was a Metho- 
dist pioneer preacher of the best type, — a man wlio "was never turned aside by 

* His lionie was at first in the town of I'aledonia, where he was one of the earliest settlers. 

2 Otherwise written Chippecotton or Seiiipifoteii. 

3 Mr. Bennett, the liistorian of Methodism in Wisconsin, thinks it is "probable tliat Mr. 
Walker visited a point on Koot river, some distanet^ from Kaeinc," 



BY THE LAKE AND ON THE PRAIRIE. 221 

dangers or hardships, always seeking out the frontier settlers, comforting and 
administering to the sick,— spending his life, in fact, for the good of his felhnv- 
men." But he did not serve as pastor or stated preacher at Racine, and died 
in the autumn of that same year, — ^1835. 

In the sj)ring of 1835 a certain exploring party came first to Milwaukee and 
then to Racine. But at neither place could they secure "claims." These they 
were seeking not only for themselves, but also for other members of a company 
that had been organized the winter before (February 20th) at Hannibal, New 
York. On the 6th of June, 1835, this party of explorers, — Waters Touslee, 
Sidney Roberts and Charles W. Turner, came to Pike Creek and took claims 
there. A post-office, to which was given the name Pike Creek, was established 
In 1836. In the follo^^^ng year Southport was chosen as the name of the place, 
which on becoming a city, in 1850, took the name of Kenosha. A jjrayer 
meeting was held and a Sunday school ^ organized at Pike Creek on the 2nd of 
August, but the first sermon in Pike Creek " was by Rev. Abner Barlow, at the 
liouse of Waters Touslee, on the north side of the river in 1835. The number 
of inliabitants here at that time, according to the record of Isaac G. Nortliway, 
was thii'ty-two. Twenty of these attended the meeting and quite filled the 
house, which had only one room. The dwelli^igs of the early inhabitants were 
small, usually consisting of one room, and sometimes roofed with bark." Col. 
Michael Frank, from whom I have quoted, thinks that the time of Mr. Bar- 
low's sermon was about December, 1835. Mr. Barlow was then in deacon's 
orders in the Methodist Episcopal church.- He afterward entered the Congre- 
gational body, and became a pioneer in religious work in Dane county, with a 
])arish that extended over into Rock. 

Not only were settlements formed beside the Mississippi, — throughout all 
the lead region, — and on the shores of Lake Michigan before Wisconsin had sep- 
arate political existence, beginnings were made also in the interior, — on the 
])rairie traversed by the Fox, and gemmed with lakes; and beside the Asseni 
vsibi, or Rock river, — a stream whose banks would invite settlement. 

" It being natural to ask what sort of a man first set foot on the site of 
tliis city of Beloit, we have to answer, that we do not know.^ Some pre-his- 
toric man perhaps. Next, and certainly the mound-making man, for here are his 
mounds, on which we stop long enough to note his eye for a situation, a good lo- 
cality. Next, if next and not the same, the Indian, to whom this was a favorite 

' By Jonatlian Picree and Au.stin Kello^, good Methodists. Twenty-eight attended: 
twenty one took part. 

- Mr. Barlow was not a resident of Pike Creek, but of the town of Pleasant Prairie wliich 
comprises the southeast corner of Wisconsin. He was one of the earliest settlers there, liav- 
iiis? pa.ssed Waukrgaii, Illinois, at a time when, to use liis own humorous description "it con- 
sisted oi a colTee mill nailed to a stump." He was ordained as an elder in the Methodist Ei)is- 
copal church at Cliicago, 1842, August 7tli, by Bishop Robert Rich ford Roberts. On one oc- 
casion.— it could hardly liave been in August, however,— Mr. Barlow, walking with others 
toward and into (,'liicago, was obliged to wade for twenty miles through water over his shoe- 
tops. 

•' Rev. Lucien Dwight Mears, historian of the First Ctngregational churcli of Beloit, and 
the first white child born in that city. 



222 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

place of resort.^ Next, the first white man to sojourn, though not to settle, 
the French Canadian, Joseph Thiebeau, with his two Indian wives and family 
of half-and-half children. Sojourner to be sure and not settler, but he was the 
first builder of anything more than an Indian wigwam — of a log house ■ — the 
first house here. * * Next, the first real settler. Caleb Blodgett 

was his name, originally, I have reason to suppose, from Randolph, Vermont. 
Coming west by degrees, he was here in this region with one or two sons, as 
early as the month of May, 1836, exploring, looking for land and a location. 
With him also, at some time during this year 1836, now or later, the first of 
the original members of the [First Congregational] church to visit the locality, 
though he did not come to settle until the autumn of the following year, 
Chauncey Tuttle. In the month of June of this year 1836, Mr. Blodgett is 
ready to approve the judgment of the mound maker and the Indian and decide 
for this place. * * In December, year 1836, he brings his family, 

the first white family; hence the first white woman to come to stay, Mrs. 
Caleb Blodgett, with perhaps two of her daughters." 

A story of early Wisconsin-ward emigrants is told in a paragraph of the 
Beloit college "Codex" issued by the class of '95: 

" I heard the word Beloit in 1836 for the first time. I was standing in 
my father's yard in Vermont one June day, and up came four covered wagons 
filled with people, and among them four beautiful girls, just blooming into 
womanhood. They attracted my attention and I began to ask questions ; they 
were bound for Beloit, Wisconsin." 

A pretty story this, and told by a worthy man. Dr. Daniel Kendall Pear- 
sons, of Chicago, the generous giver to Beloit college. ^ But there is some njis- 
take or lapse of memory. In 1836, though Beloit had a mere beginning, it 
had not yet its present name,^ and probably no distinctive name at all. How- 
ever, we need make the date only a year later to think of such a group ass Dr. 
Pearsons describes, emigrants perhaps frcm Colebrook, New Hampshire, where 
had been formed the "New England Emigrating Company," under the aus))ices 
of which the real settlement of Beloit was affected in 1837. Thither came in 
its early years Lewis Homeri Loss who, had it been possible, would have come 
west in response to Mr. Warren's call to found a mission among the Ojibways. 
At Beloit he founded a seminary which continued its existence until it furnished 
to Beloit college its first freshman class, of four. And thus was laid, in part, 
the foundation of the oldest institution of higher education in Wisconsin. A 

> On the site of Beloit was a Winnebago village. Its name in Englisli form is preserved 
in that of the town of which Beloit once was a x^art,— the town of Turtle. 

2 I believe that Dr. Pearsons's gifts to Beloit coU.'ge exceed those received from an indi- 
vidual giver by any other Wisconsin institution. 

3 What follows here is merely from memory, but I seem to recall a story in which it was 
said that the place was first called New Albany; that a committee of settlers met to make 
choice of another name to be recommended for adoption; that while some were pri^paring 
letters to be drawn from a hat until scmie pronouncahle combination should be secured, an- 
other was trying to recall an Indian name that he thouglit rhymed with •'Detroit." He ut- 
tered something that was, or sounded like, "' Beloit,"' a name that pleased all so well that 
resource to the hat and its contents was deemed needless. 



BY THE LAKE AND ON THE PRAIRIE. 228 

fuller story belongs to a later time, and has been often told. 

The peninsula, or, more precisely, — if we may use such an etymological 
monstrosity, — the " inter-lachen," whereon Wisconsin's capital was to stand and 
her great university to be built, had, in 1836, been neither marred nor beauti- 
fied by the hand of man. Where now more than a thousand students come 
and go, then not a family had made a home. But observing eyes had seen 
the beauty of the site, and persistent advocacy by James Duane Doty, — who, 
we are sorry to have to add, did not refrain from bribery, — led to the choice 
thereof as the capital of the newly organized Territory. That was done at (old) 
Belmont, 1836, December 3i'd. At the same place there was held the first ses- 
sion of the Territorial supreme court. But it was on soil not now belonging to 
Wisconsin, — at Bui'lington, Iowa, that an act was passed creating the univer- 
sity of Wisconsin. Not until 1850, however, did the institution begin the work 
of instruction, and then as a preparatory school. 

Among the pioneers of 1836 was a young man — Rev. Solomon Ashley 
Dwinnell, — ^ who thirty years later told well and briefly the story of that early 
time.- "In the year 1836," he says, "Wisconsin was organized as a Territory 
of the United States, and its material, educational and religious history really 
began. Little had been done before that time. 

''On the 25th of October, 1836, I entered Chicago on the Great Eastern 
Mail Stage, consisting of a common uncovered lumber wagon. This, with an 
extra for baggage and a few passengers, brought all the travelers from the East 
for the day, as navigation was then closed. Chicago was then a frontier vil- 
lage, with apparently some 1,500 inhabitants. A gai*rison of United States 
troops at Fort Dearborn, near the mouth of the river, protected the inhabitants 
from the. attacks of the Indians. The village was mostly limited to a few 
squares east and south of the river. There were three small buildings on the 
west side. * * 

"On the 15th of November * * j entered Wisconsin * * 

[and] at seven o'clock, evening, I reached the 'Outlet of Big Foot,'^ now Ge- 
neva, having traveled thirty-five miles without seeing a human dwelling. The 
settlement consisted of five families, living in rude log cabins without floors, 
chinmeys. or chamljers, the roofs covered with ' shakes ' and hardly a nail used 
in the construction of their dwellings. There were then twenty-seven families 
in what is now the county of Walworth, and all but four in the eastern half 
of it; all living in log cabins. All of them liad come in since spring, and had 
put under cultivation about eighty acres. I settled on Spring Prairie, in what 
is now the town of La Fayette. 

» Mr. Dwinnell, thousli once a student of theology at Andover, was compelled by the 
threatened failure of his health to choosi! an out-of-door-life, and did not enter the ministry 
until aft>T hn had been in 'Wisoonsin many years. 

^ In the " Wisconsin Puritan," a religious paper that, in 18G7, was absorbed into the " A<1- 
vance " of Chicago. 

3 Big Foot was a Pottawattomie chief, whoso name was borne for a time by the lake now 
called Geneva. Mr. Dwiiniell seems to use " Outlet of Hig Foot " as the name of the prospec- 
tive village. 



224 IN TTNNAMED AVI8CONSIN. 

"In the fall of 1836, there were farminir settlements near Kenosha. Racine 
and Milwaukee. There were probably twenty families on Fox River, from 
Burlington to Waukesha. There were twenty-seven in Walworth county. 
On Rock River, there were five^ families at Beloit, three at Watertown, 
two at and near Janes ville, and two at Fort Atkinson. The number of 
souls, at that time, from the settlements by the lake shore to Mineral Point 
and Dodgeville, could not have exceeded three hundred and fifty, nearly all of 
whom came in the same season. Travelers from place to place made their way 
by Indian trails, which were numerous, and about six inches in depth and 
cigliteen in width. 

" In 1836 the amount of land under cultivation was about three or four 
tliousand acres, and the amount of grain raised could not have exceeded 40,000 
bushels, mostly sod corn and buckAvheat. 

"Early settlers of a state must work for posterity. During the first fif- 
teen years I opened two farms, upon the first of whidi I split and laid up three 
miles of rail fence with my own hands, raised thousands of busliels of grain, 
most of which was sold for less than the cost of production. Not a bushel of 
wheat was sold for a dollar; the average price in market, was about sixty cents. 
The first grain we carried to market was the best cpiality of winter wheat, sold 
at Southport, September, 1840, at fifty-five cents per bushel. It was threshed 
by treading with oxen, and dviven thirty-five miles to market. It must have 
cost $1 per bushel to produce it. In subsequent years, the farming interest 
somewhat impi'oved. 

"In 1836 there were four counties. Milwaukee county extended from tlie 
state of Illinois north to Manitowoc, and west to the four lakes, wliere Ma<l- 
ison now stands, with a population of 2,893. Brown was north of Milwaukee 
— its population 2,706. Iowa county embraced all the region w(st of Milwau- 
kee county to the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, with a population of 3.218. 
Crawford was north of the Wisconsin river and west of Brown County; its 
pojralation 1,220. The entire population was 11,683. It is alleged that 3,000 
Indians of the Oneida, Brothertown and Stockbridge tribes, not then citizens, 
were enumerated in that census. If so, the white jjopulation was about 9,000. 

" In 1836 there were 303 miles of mail route established in the territory ; 
from the state line of Illinois, near Kenosha, to Milwaukee, forty miles, by a 
two-horse lumber wagon, twice a week; from Milwaukee to Green Bay, one 
hundred miles, once a week, on the back of a man ; from Galena to JMincral 
Point via Platteville, forty-three miles, in a one-horse wagon, once a week; from 
Platteville to Cassville, twenty miles, and from Platteville to Prairie du Chien, 
thirty miles, once a week, on horseback ; and from Mineral Point to Fort Wir.- 
nebago, seventy miles, once a week, on the back of a man. 

" In 1836 the nearest railroad was at Utica, New York, [and] the mag- 
netic telegraph was not invented." 

' An error, doiibtless. On this point Mr. Mears is much more likely to be right than is 
Mr. Dwinnell. 



BY THK LAKK ANi> ()\ THE I'lJAIUlK. '-'25 

"In 1830 there were four weekly newspapers in Wisconsin. The Green 
Bay InteMlffencer was established, December 11, 1833, by P. V. Suydain and 
A. G. Ellis; the Greeu Hmj Sj>evtatur, Auj»ust. 1835. by H. (). Sholes and C. 
C. P. Arndt. In 1836, the above named j)apers were consolidated, and as- 
sumed the name of the Wl^coiunn Dewoerat, published at Green Bay by H. 
(). and C. C. Sholes. The Gref>n Bay Free Press was established, ]83(;. The 
M'divaukee A<lrertiser was established, July, 1836, by Daniel H. Richards; 
name changed to Courier in 1841, and to the Whrnvsin in 1844. The Bel- 
mont Gozette was commenced. Octolier, 18.36, and was ])ublished during the 
session of the Territorial legislature at that place, for two or three months, and 
was then removed to Mineral Point, and became the Miners' Free Prfss, in 
1837. 

'*Iu 18.36 there were eight small private schools, and no public schools. 
There was one in Pike, now Kenosha, taught by Rev. Jason Lothroj). in a log 
school house. The school was ojjened in December, 1835. There was a school 

taught in Milwaukee, by ^West, in a building owned by Deacon Samuel 

Brown, on lot 12, block 39, second ward, now occupied as a store. The first 
school in Milwaukee, was taught by David Worthington, in the winter of 1835-6. 
in a room on East Water street, one block east of Wisconsin street. There was 
one in Sheboygan, in a private room, by T. M. Rublee ; one in Green Bay by 
Miss Frances Sears of 35 scholars, in a frame school house 24x30, on Cherry 

street, built in 1834 ; one in Prairie du Chien, of thirty pupils, taught by 

and an infant school of twenty by Miss Kirby ; one in the Methodist log meet- 
ing-house, at Mineral Point, of about fifty scholars, and one in Platteville. of 
40 scholars, taught by Dr. A. T. Lacy, in a log school house 20 by 22 feet, 
built in 1834. Samuel Huntington had previously taught in the same house. 
The whole number of scholars taught was about 260. i 

"In 1836, there were probably, as nearly as can at this time be ascer- 
tained, six Sabbath schools with about 185 scholars. 

•'It was in 18.36 and onward that Eastern emigration poured into the West 
as a mighty stream. Just at that time Wisconsin was opened for settlement. 
Its lands were surveyed and emigration invited to its shores. The financial 
crash of 1837 succeeding the wild speculation of 1836, reduced many families 

* Suppleineiitary to the above may be made the following statements: Rev. Jason La - 
throp was an eccentrio, but very worthy. Baptist clergyman. Mr. West's work is mentioned 
in both tlie " History of Milwaukee " (Western Publisliing company) and the " History of Ed- 
ucation in Wisconsin." His Christian name is not given, but we are told tliat he afterward 
removed to Appleton. David Worthington w.as one of three who held in May or June, 18^5, 
what Deacon Daniel Brown thinks was the first prayer meeting in Milwaukee. Mr. Worth- 
ington afterward entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church. But neither he 
nor West taught what was absolutely the first school in Milwaukee. That was in IS.S.O by a 
Mr. or Dr. Hcth. He had few pupils, save the children of Solomon and Peter Juneau. " F " 
instead of " T " should appear in Mr. Rublee's name. 

It may be added that to Southport (Kenosha) belongs the honor of establishing tlie first 
public school iji Wisconsin. Colonel Michael Frank, historian of the Congregational church 
of Kenosha, did more than any other man to secure the neecUid legislation. He it was, al.so, 
who " framed the scho<il laws of this state, which, by subsequent modification, constitute the 
school code of to-day." 



226 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

at the East to bankruptcy, many of whom in order to retrieve their fortunes 
and found new homes, emigrated here. Among these were many men and 
women of refinement and education, and of sterling moral and Christian char- 
acter, some of whom were soon found in almost every village and settlement. 
Their cabins were opened for religious meetings. Sabbath schools and the preach- 
ing of the gospel. They became the members and officers of the churches soon 
after formed. Thus the moiilding of the Territory in its laws, its educational, 
moral and religious institutions was largely given into the hands of Eastern 
people." 

Well did these men do their work. They brought hither the town system 
of local government. They created our schools, our colleges and the most 
highly vitalized of our churches. They led the way wherein have followed 
men of multitudinous nations. Thus has been brought together in AVisconsin a 
polyglot people. Of these a majority were peasants in the lands whence they 
came, — that is men without social, political or religious responsibility, men 
whose chief duty was unthinking obedience to priest and king, and whose chief 
privilege was the stupefaction of the beer mug on Sundays. ^ Yet these men, 
received here into an equality of political and social privilege that perhaps has 
not a parallel in the world's history, ~ found place where they, — and more than 
they, their children, — could breathe of the spirit tha^t was in the best of the men 
who, coming some from the South and more from the East, laid here the founda- 
tions of a great commonwealth, — foundations whereon were to build not only 
their own children and the sons and daughters of their neighbors, but also peo- 
ple of strange language and alien citizenship. Of Wisconsin's early pioneers, 
we may say in the words of Emerson that they builded better than they knew. 

* Sundays, it may be added, which ecclesiastical and political tyranny were glad to have 
debased into times of frivolity or of anything rather than the hallowing thought that duty, 
rights and righteousness are found primarily in the personal relation of every soul to Al- 
mighty God. 

2 Under the laws of Wisconsin a man does not need to be a citizen to be a voter. It is 
enough that he has merely " declared his intention "to become a citizen and has lived one 
year in the state. Our present system is well illustrated in the case of President Eaton of Be- 
loit college. That gentleman is a native of Wisconsin, was educated in her schools and, with 
absence for further study, made his home here until he entered upon professional life, lie- 
turning to his native state to assume the presidency of his alma mate)', he must needs wait 
for the privilege of voting, as long as the foreign emigrant. That is, if a man from Sinope in 
Asiatic Turkey or from Bjelometschetskaja among the Caucasus mountains arrived in Wis- 
consin on the day that President Eaton returneil thitlier, and on that same day the emigrant 
" declared his intention " to become a citizen of the United States, the one was legally enti- 
tled to vote as soon as the other. It is said that men have voted for twenty years in Wiscon- 
sin and yet been in a position to repudiate the duties of American citizenship. Save, per- 
haps, for the number of years, this statement is true of several voters in the little city where 
I am writing on the day following the autunni election of 18i)4. 



APPENDIX 




£>LJ\^tyt-je^ 



l^ 



IN MEMORIAM. 



On August 12th, 1894, at the home of her son, Rev. E. P. Wheeler, in 
Ashland, Wisconsin, Mrs. Harriet Wood Wheeler breathed her last. Her death 
was the result of an accidental fall, which occasioned concussion of the brain 
and a broken hip. Her casye was a hopeless one from the outset. She lingered 
along for eighteen days, enduring the greatest suffering, when the end came. A 
wide circle of friends, including those who appreciated the worth of her per- 
sonal qualities, as well as those who knew of her missionary services, have 
united in asking some outline sketch of her life. Filial affection yields to this 
request, though with hesitation, knowing the inadequacy of the means at com- 
mand to set forth in words the spirit of the life it would portray. The follow- 
ing, however, is given, in the hope that it may furnish some fresh suggestion of 
the grace that is all-sufficient. 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 



The subject of this sketch was born in Dracut, now a part of Lowell, Mas- 
sachusetts, on December 4th, 1816. She was of Puritan blood in both lines of 
descent. Her grandmother on her father's side was a Whiting, who had come 
down from a long line of godly ancestors, among whom were several ministers 
of the gospel. Among the earliest representatives of this class in England, 
was a dissenting clergyman in Lincolnshire, in the early days of non-conform- 
ity ; another a mayor of Boston of the same shire, and a third '-a man of con- 
siderable note in the time of Cromwell." The same family were well repre- 
sented in the religious life of Boston, in the early days of New England. 
Cotton Mather speaks of some of them as belonging to a class of clergymen, 
who were ''reverend, holy and faithful ministers of the gosi^el." The Wood 
ancestors were generally represented in mercantile pursuits. From them she 
inherited an energetic disposition and a strong constitution. Her mother was a 
Kendall and contributed a native refinement and delicacy in the make-up of her 
natural endowments. From all lines of descent, however, there was given her 
a Puritan conscience which subordinated all liuman interests to the divine will, 
with absolute consent. The year of her birth was a crisis in the religious life 
of her parents. Though both had been reared w^ith all the strictness and 
fidelity common to the orthodoxy of the times, neither were members of the 
church. In fact, the father had tried to justify the anomalous attitude he was 
conscious of occupying, by the ostensible acceptance of the Unitarian faith. 
But the influence of early training, combined with gi-owing responsibilities 
made an issue in their lives. Weeks of mental and religious struggle followed. 
Out of it all came the clear consciousness and acceptance of the verities of the 
evangelical faith. They united with the Congregational church in Dracut, 
and later on became charter members of the First church in Lowell. It is sig- 
nificant that the weekly prayer meetings of the latter church were held, during 
tlie first year of its history, in their home. Into this atmosj^here of Christian 
zeal, Harriet Wood was born. That it had its effect upon the very beginnings 
of her moral consciousness, is evident from the fact that she could never in her 
after life, look back upon a time when she was not a Christian. Her earliest 
recollections were of faith and trust in the unseen Father of all. It was a life 
of trust too, out of which poured forth, as from a living spring, the ministries 



282 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

of Cliristian service. At the age of ten, her favorite occupation, Saturdays, 
was to visit the sick and needy and lavish upon them the sympathies of a full 
heart, as well as to supply, as generously as she could, the means for their physi- 
cal comfort. When she had reached her fourteenth year, the home was bereft 
of the mother. Her dying charge to the daughter Harriet was that she must 
now become the mother to the six younger sisters and one brotlier. Most 
prayerfully and devotedly did she take up the new responsibility, throwing into 
it all that ardent and generous enthusiasm so native to her spirit. It was her 
habit on pleasant mornings to gather the children into the parlor of the old 
home, and, after reciting a verse or a hymn, marshal them all off into the 
woods for a ronap before breakfast. These home cares accejited so heartily and 
borne with such loving faithfulness, developed her character in many directions 
of usefulness, especially on its religious side. And s ) it came about, that these 
early responsibilities matured in her heart the conviction that the consecrated 
life was the only true life to live; and it was this thought that ultimately be- 
came fixed in the settled purpose to give her life in missionary service. 

During her sixteenth year, she entered Mary Lyon's school, at Ipswich. 
The newly-awakened zeal in missionary work was in full tide here, and Miss 
Lyon lost no opportunity of inspiring her pupils with the real missionary 
spirit. She found in Miss Wood a congenial spirit and a heart tremblingly 
alive to the missionary appeal. On one occasion Miss Lyon invited a ndssion- 
ary from Ohio to address the young ladies on the subject of Indian missions. 
The appeal went straight to hearts that were responsive, and they took upon 
themselves the support of an Indian pupil at the Mackinaw mission school. 
The year at Ipswich was full of significance for Miss Wood. She had evi- 
dently caught much of tlie spirit of that consecrated genius of common sense 
in Christian culture, Mary Lyon. In a letter to her father, written at this 
time she says: "For a few weeks past I have begun to look around and con- 
sider what I must become when 1 leave here, and the more I think of it. the 
more I am bewildered. I very much wish to form a character that will do 
some good ; one that will be useful ; not one that will live only for the gratifica- 
tion of selfish principles." 

She returned to Lowell to take up her home duties again; but with the 
added purpose of serving her Master more unreservedly than ever before in all 
the relations of life. It was not without a struggle that she renounced her 
social ambitions from the worldly standpoint and entered witli fresh c:)nsecia- 
tion upon the work of the church 'with which she had T3econie identified. Here 
her Christian aspiration found free play. Through the channels of the Sun- 
day school, and through the varied avenues of parish work, her activities 
flowed in full tide. Her visitings among the poor and neglected classes and 
among the mill operatives of Lowell were especially fruitful ; not only to those 
thus comforted, but reflexively fruitful in tlie culture of her rare spirit. Be- 
fore the days of deaconesses, she fully sustained that relationship to her cluncli 
and in such manner as to merit its official recognition. It was in the midst of 



MRS. ElAKRIET WOOD WHEELER. L':W 

tlievse labors that she met hei- future husband, Leonard Hemenway Wheeler, 
who was completing his theological cour.se with a view of entering upon mis- 
sion work among the Chippewa Indiars of Lake Superior. During his last 
term at Andover, he was delegated to attend certain anniversary exercises at 
Lowell, and was entertained at Mr. Wood's home. The acquaintance thus be- 
gun was continued for the few months Mr. Wheeler was pursuing medical 
studies in the office of a physician at Lowell, as supplementary to a course of 
medical lectures he had already taken at Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The 
acquaintance reached its destined culmination in marriage, April 2(5th, 1841. 
Mr, Wheeler was already under (-onnnission of the American Board to labor 
among the Indians, as stated. The ordination services were held in the 
Appleton street church, with which Mrs. AVheeler's religious activities had been 
so intimately identified. From its benediction and blessing they proceded to 
their far off and unfamiliar field of labor, visiting for a short time on their 
way with Mr. Wheeler's family in Vermont. 

The stay at the old homestead, though necessarily brief, made its impress 
on the young bride. Revisiting the scenes of Mr. Wheeler's boyhood, recall- 
ing old associations, the greetings and farewells with old associates, and the 
mingling of all in the chalice of sweet Christian fellowship, made this final 
leave-taking of the old New England home seem like the passing of a sacra- 
mental cup of true communion with kindred spirits and with their common 
Lord. They proceeded at once to their field of labor. The journey proved a 
long and wearisome experience in those days of slow travel. The stage, the 
steam packet, the bateau and sailing craft were successively brought into requi- 
sition in the course of the trip. Arriving at Mackinaw, they found it essential 
and profitable to tarry a week, that they might investigate the work of the In- 
dian mission at that jjoint and also gain a little much needed rest. From this 
station they set out again; this time in the open bateau of the professional 
voyagenr. It was the type of craft that had, for so many years, served tlie 
daring and zeal of tlie French discoverers and the Jesuit missionaries. After 
nine days of vai'iable weather and rough sea-faring, in no wise tempered to the 
delicacy of Mrs. Wheeler's health, they reached Madelaine Island, Sunday, 
August 1st, 1841. The missionaries at La Pointe gave them hearty welcome, 
and in the evening of this first Sabbath, Mr. Wheeler preached in the mis- 
sion church. 

At the time of their arrival, Madelaine island was the headquarters of 
the American Fur company, and through this corporation the enqjorium of 
tra:le for all the region north and west of Mackinaw. Here was a popula- 
tion varying somewhat with the seasons, but at this time numbering about seven 
thousand souls, princi2)ally made up of Ojibway Indians. Here the Fur com- 
pany had built a commodious fort and official residence for its officers and their 
families; and from this common center its factors and agents traversed all tlie 
adjacent territory, as well as the more remote regions of the interior, tradinf 



2;J4 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

with the Indians for furs. The Indian agent, that ehisive personality, who, in 
so many instances, has stood as the unknown quantity in his alleged media- 
torial capacity between the Great Father at Washington and his much pillaged 
children of the forest, was also quartered at the island. " Payment time," in 
the fall of the year, was always an occasion of much interest to the red men, 
and brought large companies of them to this governmental " round-up," or ren- 
dezvous, to receive the annual disbursements of money and miscellaneous 
items due them under terms of treaty. It was in the midst of these varied 
conditions and more varied people, that Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were to begin 
their missionary labor. 

The young couple began housekeeping in the mission manse, which had 
already been provided by the American Board for the use of its missionaries. ^ 
The structure, comfortably and well built for those early days and, at that time, 
remote locality, amply accommodated the missionaiy force on the island. It 
still stands, and its upper rooms, long since untenanted, look out upon the 
ever varying phase of water-view and landscape that still yield to fancy their 
old-time spell of facination and charm. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler, the 
manse was occupied by Rev. Sherman Hall and family, founder of the mission, ^ 
together with Miss Abbie Spooner of Athol, Massachusetts, who had accom- 
panied Mr. Wheeler to the island to teach in the mission school. The base- 
ment of this mission home was fitted up as a school room; and here Mrs. 
Wheeler took up the first golden threads of her missionary service, the day 
after her arrival. She began as teacher in this mission day-school, bat tlie un- 
stinted love of her heart saw an additional opportunity, and she soon organized 
a night school for mothers. Every evening from fifteen to twenty Indian 
mothers gathered in her rooms for instruction. She gave them lessons in sew- 
ing as well as practical talks on house-keeping; some also learning to read and 
write. Prayer, singing and reading of the Bible, gave wing and spiritual cheer 
to every session of the mothers' school ; and souls born into the kingdom 
evidenced the Spii-it's blessing on the work. Mrs. Wheeler also accompanied 
her husband in his daily visits to the wigwams of his parish and assisted him 
in his ministrations to the sick and needy. These Indians up to this time ^ were 
wholly innocent of those civilizing influences that lead to better things; were in 
the thick darkness of heathenism and deep in poverty. The chase and fishing 
furnished the staples of a more or less precarious subsistence. Wearing but 
little clothing, they were also destitute of the things that we deem the m >st 
common comforts of life. The appeal of such need went straight to the heart 
of Mrs. Wheeler, out of which were the issues of such untiring ministries. 

She writes her parents at this time: "You can hardly imagine liow much 
this poor people suffer in sickness. They, have no comfortable houses, no soft 
pillows to recline their aching heads upon and no palatable food." It was her 

1 Seepage 15G. 

2 I shoultl prefer to call Mr. Ayer the " founder of tlie mission," tliough, after his first 
comintf to La Poiiite, be was not in the service of the Ameriean Board.— . I. N. 1). 

=* The time of the foniidiiiK of tiie mission. 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 235 

daily prayer that she might have strength and grace to exert a saving influence 
ujjon these people. She again writes home: "I have felt for some time that I 
could not rest satisfied until God should come by the influence of His Holy 
Spirit and convert this people. Pray, my dear pai'ents, that we, who are sent 
here to be as light to this dark peojjle, may be, indeed, bright and shining ones ; 
that our hearts may be purified and sanctified, and made meet for this service." 

But the demands on her time and strength did not begin and end in this 
service for the Indians only. During the summer months there were many ar- 
rivals of government officials, occasional tourists, and of those in search of 
health. The sunny temperament and rare social graces of the new hostess 
of the manse invarial)ly attracted these new-comers to its hearth cheer. It was 
included in the charge of the American Board to its missionaries, that they 
should give entertainment and refreshment to the stranger within their gates ; 
and, for this purpose, the necessary furnishings were provided. Mrs. Wheeler 
was the emlwdiment, to a remarkable degree, of unselfish, unstinted Christian 
cordiality. Hers was a lieart always sympathetic and warm toward the stranger. 
Thus it came about that the mission home on the island, and later at Odanah, 
was a veritable " wayside inn " to many phases of humanity, as they drifted by 
in tireless search of wealth, health and rest. They came under the guise of 
explorers, tourists, government officials, timbermen. and the traditional settler. 
Its hospitality was impartial and its slender resources were made, by elastic ad- 
justment, to fit all occasions. It was a tabernacle in the wilderness for those 
earlier days, — a place that always seemed pervaded with the sweet incense of 
two consecrated lives ; a house of prayerful sunshine. Hither came Grace Green- 
wood in search of rest and health. Robert Stuart of Irving's *' Astoi'ia," Indian 
Commissioner Manypenny i and Agent Richard Smith, all friends of the In- 
dians in the larger sense, were among the "official " guests. Professor Joseph 
Emerson also came from the classroom of a Yale tutorship to pass a vacation 
on the islmcl- in tliose days of beginnings. He preached in the newly-built 
mission church, and thus were woven those golden threads of friendship, that 
twenty-five years later drew the missionary, worn out and broken in health, to 
Beloit for the education of his children. It was in this liome, in later years, 
that J. Q. Adams Ward, the artist, passed some weeks, perfecting his models of 
the ideal Indian head, which he subsequently expanded into the bronze figure 
of the American Indian that now stands in Central Park, New York. But 
these digressions ai'e leading us too widely from the main path of this sketch. 

The November following their arrival found Mrs. Wlieeler well nigh pros- 
trated with the summer's work and the growing sense of the magnitude of her 
mission. The twenty-fifth of the month was a memorable day with her. It 
was the anniversary of the last Thanksgiving day spent in her New England 
home. She thus writes of it to her parents: "This has been an interesting, 
though somewhat trying, day to me, a day which I have looked forward to with 

' G. W. Manypenny, commissioner of Indian affairs under Presi<lent Pierce. 
- About tlie time that he besaii work in H(doit ooUetre, and that wa.s in 1848. 



230 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

interest and dread. The power of association in my own mind is so strong, 
and past scenes, looks and tones come rushing upon me with such oveiwhehn- 
ing force, that I dread anything that has a tendency to remind me of them. 
You will, I think, remember the occurences of that day. Oh, what a day of 
anxiety and trial it was to me. With what fearfulness and trembling did I 
come to the final decision. Never can I forget the anxious looks of my dear 
parents. The enquiring ones of my little sisters have come up before me to-day 
with a vividness and a freshness which has been very painful. The scenes of 
that evening have all been lived over again, — our parlor, the bright fire, my 
dear parents, that happy group of brothers and sisters. 

"AVhen I seated myself in my chamber this morning, the thoughts of 
home, and the scenes of last year came rushing upon me with such force as al 
most to overwhelm me. For a few moments I could do nothing but weep, but 
soon I was enabled to east myself on the blessed Redeemer, to look to him for 
strength." 

This 25th day of November. 1841, was one of great struggle in her soul, 
a day of crisis in her spiritual life. A Thanksgiving day turned into one of 
fasting and prayer sufficiently indicates the nature and intensity of the struggle. 
The picture is very vivid to her that day,^ — in the inunediate foreground a life 
of privation in many ways, of isolation, of the giving up of social joys and its 
circle of kindred spirits, the seemingly narrower path of influence in a work 
among a degraded people, and practical renunciation of all former interests; 
and then for the remote background of this picture, that far away New Eng- 
land home, with its cheer, its comforts, its kindred and plenty. She deeply 
felt the urgency of committing her way unto the Lord afresh, and she can not 
leave that chamber of fasting and prayer, until she has, in solemn covenant, re- 
consecrated her life and all its future to God. That covenant, just as it was 
penned fifty-three years ago, is inserted at this point, as it seems the secret of 
the varied fruitage of all the years that followed. 

COVENANT. 

"Almighty and most merciful God, the author of my being and the pre 
server of my life, I desire at this time, with the deepest reverence, humility 
and self-abasement to present myself before thee, sensible of my utter unvvor- 
thiness to appear in thy majesty's presence, especially on such an occasion as 
this; even that of entering into a solemn and everlasting covenant witli the 
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But this gi-acious ])roposal is from thee. 
Thine infinite mercy and condescension have opened the way, and thy grace, 1 
trust, has inclined my heart to accept the terms of that gracious covenant ac- 
cording to which I would now heartily surrender and consecrate myself wholly 
to thee, to be thine forever. I acknowledge myself a great sinner and, with a 
penitent heart, beseech thee to be merciful to my unrighteousness, and forgive 
all my sins through the atonement and mediation of thy dear Son, in wliom art' 
all my hopes of acceptance. I beseech thee to pardon and receive thy prodigal 



MRS. HAUKlEr WOOD Wlll^lOLEIl. 2:57 

child, who desires nothing so much as a place in thy family, and to be entirely 
devoted to thy glory. And yet such is the exceeding sinfulness of my heart 
and life that I cannot approach this solemn transaction without trembling. But 
convinced that it is but a reasonable service, I do this day, in the presence of 
witnessing angels, make an entire and hearty surrender of myself to thee. I 
yield to thee my mortal body with all its members, faculties and senses to be 
liencef orth wholly employed in thy service and resigned to thy will. To thee I 
also surrender my rational and immortal soul with all its intellectual and moral 
powers, to be used, directed and disposed of, according to thy holy and sov- 
ereign pleasui'e. I also surrender and consecrate to thee all my time, property 
and influence, accounting myself ihy servant bound to im^irove all to thy glory, 
and submit all my interests and desires to thy management and direction. At 
the same time I renounce all oilier Lords which have had dominion over me 
and choose and avouch the Lord Jeliovah, Father, Son and Holy Spirit to be 
my God and portion forever. I take and own God, the Father, as my Father 
in heaven, engaging thus the aid of his grace to love and obey him as such, and 
humbly pray to be owned and blessed of him as a daughter of the Lord Al- 
mighty. The Lord Jesus Christ I accept as my only Redeemer and Saviour, 
beseeching hinx to wash my polluted soul in the fountain of his blood and make 
me a meek, exemplary follower of him till death and then receive me to his 
everlasting kingdom. The Holy Ghost I also avouch as my Enlightener, Guide, 
Sanctifier and Comforter entreating him to make my heart the temple of his 
residence, to shed abroad a Saviour's love there, to lead and enliven all my de- 
votion, and bring every thought and desire into subjection to the divine will. 

And now, O Lord, behold I am thine; oh make me a faithful servant, a 
willing and obedient child. Use me for thy glory as seemeth good in thy sight. 
Put me among thy children and number me among thy peculiar people. Feed 
and nourish my soul from thy bounteous table and clothe me with the robe of 
salvation prepared by the labors and sufferings of thy dear Son. While I live 
enable me to live wholly to thee, performing the duties and fulfilling the obli- 
gations of this solemn covenant, or if at any time, through indwellino- sin, I 
violate my covenant vows, oh, let not thy loving kindness depart from me nor 
thy covenant of peace be removed ; but grant me evangelical repentance and 
faith in Christ, and then save me from all my backslidings and by every fall 
make me more humbly watchful and prayerful, that my path may be as the ris- 
ing light, which shineth brighter and brighter to the perfect day. And when 
my warfare shall be accomplished, my work on earth finished, receive me to 
thyself in that time and way which shall be most for thy glory, only o-rant, I 
beseech thee, that amid the struggles of dissolving nature, I may enjoy thy 
gracious presence, have the peace of God ruling in my heart and be enabled to 
employ the last breathings of mortality in thy praise. And when this clay 
tabernacle shall be returned to the earth from which it was taken, and this im- 
mortal soul, now engaged in covenant with its Maker, shall have entered on the 
retribution of eternity, should this memorial meet the eye of survivors, may it 



23S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

prove an instrument in the hands of the Spirit of awakening and saving such 
as are impenitent and of quickening to greater care, diligence and zeal such as 
have tasted that the Lord is gracious, that they may be prepared to join with 
the covenant people of God, who are before the throne, in ascribing blessing 
and honor and glory and power unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the 

Lamb forever and ever. Amen. 

Harriet Wheeler. 
La Pointe, Lake Superior, Nov. 25th, 1841. 

During the summer of 1842, Mrs. Wheeler accompanied her husband to 
the Fond du Lac mission, at the head of Lake Superior, to assist Missionary 
Ely in revival services. The mission was located not far from where Duluth 
now stands. They made the voyage in the mission sail-boat, camping two 
nights on the way. A place in which to h^ld the services was the first requi- 
site after arrival. A lodge was accordingly built, its skeleton of cedar poles 
serving as studding and rafters ; the top covered with cedar bark and the sides 
left open. Such was the somewhat primitive place of worship, meant to serve 
only a temporary purpose ; but the Spirit was therj in the richness of his power 
and builded for all eternity in the hearts of humble and contrite seekers. In 
a letter 1 home, Mrs. Wheeler thus writes of the services : "The meetings to-tlay 
have been very solemn and interesting, this evening especially so. It was a 
prayer and confessional meeting, and I have been vei'y much interested in hear- 
ing these Spirit-taught children speak and pray. The first one who spoke liad 
been a medicine man untU within a few weeks. When the war party fitted out 
for the Sioux country this spring, he called on Mr. Ely, the missionary, shook 
hands with him, and told him if the Lord spared his life to return again, he 
wonld go to war no more, but would live differently. He went. Towards the 
close of a battle, the Chippeways were obliged to flee. The Sioux took another 
route and came out directly in front of them. The balls c f the enemy were 
flying about his head on every side. Death stared him in the face. He says 
that he then promised the Lord in his heart, that, if he would spare his life, he 
would listen to his word. When he returned he told Mr. Ely his promise, 
came and settled down with his people, and ever since has been an attentive 
listener to the preaching of the gospel. This evening he has publicly renounced 
his heathenism and expressed his determination to become a Cliristian. He 
told the Indians that they must not invite him again to their metawa (relig- 
ious) dances or their feasts. He appears to be sincere- This afternoon Mr. 
Wheeler visited him at his lodge and, after conversing with him. turned to 
his wife and asked her how she felt. 'She,' said he, 'will go with me. 
When I travel, she generally sits in the stern of the canoe, and I forward. Slie 
is not quite as far along as I, for I am the length of the boat before her, but 

^ Dated at Fond du Lac (of Lake Superior), July 20tli. 1842. The Sabbath following was 
July 24th, " the interesting day," probably, that Mrs. Wlieeler writes of in the next para- 
graph. Other letters that have been quoted from bear dates as follows: That from Ipswich 
to lier father: 1832. July 27th. That from La Pointe, telling of the Indians' suffering in ill- 
ness: 1841, November 20th. 



MRS. riARRIET WOOD WHEELER. liSO 

she will follow.' A number of the Indians spoke this evening; one of them 
had recently united with the church at Sandy Lake. Before he commenced 
speaking, he went round and shook hands with the missionaries. This he did, 
he said, to keep up his fellowship with ;them. He expressed a strong desire 
that all the natives should become Christians. He said that he wished they 
would all be like little children, who, when any danger was near, would run to 
their mother and cling to her. So he wished all would flee to Christ and cling 
to Him. In his address to the Indians he told them to look about upon this 
world and to see the works of God. ' But,' said he, ' where are the tracks of 
oar gods; we cannot see anything that they have made.' Some of the Chris- 
tian Indians exhorted each other to live more holy ; and to renew their conse- 
cration to the service of God. It was a solemn and interesting season. All 
without was calm and still. The bright moon cast its silvery rays into our lit- 
tle tabernacle, and here were a people recently sunk in all the horrors and de- 
gradation of heathenism ; now singing the praises of God and calling upon his 
name. I remarked to L. [Mr. Wheeler] this evening, that it was enough to 
repay us for all the privation we were called to endure to witness such a scene. 

''Sabbath evening: This has truly been an interesting day. This after- 
noon the sacrament was administered, and two Indians were admitted to the 
church. One of these was an old man. He is the head chief of the band. 
He is very tall and dignified in appearance. It was an affecting sight to see 
him come and kneel before the desk, and receive the ordinance of baptism. 
Mr. Wheeler baptized him and gave him the name of David. Two of his 
children were baptized also. The other person admitted was a young woman, 
wife of one of the native members. I cannot describe to you my emotions, as 
I celebrated the dying love of Jesus with this little band in the wilderness." 
Soon after this, the joint service with Mr. Ely of this Fond du Lac mission was 
brought to a close. The return trip to Madelaine island, of Mr. and Mrs. 
Wheeler, was not without incident. They were wind-bound for several days 
and their provisions failed them before it was safe to continue the voyage. 
They committed themselves afresh unto the care of the Lord, and during the 
night following the day, they had eaten the last of the food, the wind went 
down. They immediately set sail and reached the mission without further de- 
lay the next forenoon. Here the work was taken up again as already outlined 
and pushed forward with renewed zeal. 

The rearing of a family began, in the year following, to engage the thought 
and love of Mrs. Wheeler. In March of 1843, a son was given her and in 
January of 1845, a daughter was added to the family. A letter to her par- 
ents at this time is interesting as setting forth her views with refei-ence to the 
problem of ''bringing up" missionary children. She writes :i "They call me 
here an over-anxious mother. Be this as it may. I cannot help it. Perhaps you 
would like to know what we intend to do with the children, should they be 
spared us. My present opinion is that we shall not send them away from us, 

* From La Pointe, .January 4th, 184fi. 



240 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

at least, not until they are able to take care of themselves. I can not yet see 
the consistency of missionaries' neglecting their own children or of throwing 
them upon the care of others, that they may be at liberty to devote themselves 
exclusively to the heathen. Besides, the heathen need the influence and ex- 
ample of a well-regulated household. They need to see the great principles of 
the gospel embodied; acted out. A missionary's family should be a model one, 
exhibiting to the heathen all that is lovely and desirable. The poor, dark- 
minded heathen want something more than a good theory. Will you not pray, 
my dear parents, that your children may be enabled to emit a steady, unwaver- 
ing light in this dark land. Oh, never did I know the crushing weight of 
responsibility, until I had the charge of a family on missionary ground." 

It soon became apparent to Mr. Wheeler, that the location of the mission 
on Madelaine island, did not admit of reaching the Indians under settled con- 
ditions of life. He felt that the work could not be established tliere on per- 
manent foundations. While the Indians resorted to the island in large numbers 
for their ''payments" and for trading, the conditions did not seem suited to 
the support of a settled population. And even these attractions would soon be 
wanting, in the withdrawal of the American Fur company, with its stores, sup- 
plies and trading retinue. Accordingly, early in 1845, Mr. Wheeler had se- 
lected a site at the confluence of the White with the Bad river, as a point 
having resources in its soil and products that would invite permanent settle- 
ment. It was easily accessible from the main lake through Bad river, and 
from Chequamegon bay through the Caucaugon. The soil of the river bottom 
was very responsive to cultivation and the remoter banks of both streams heav- 
ily timbered, including a large percentage of hard maple, which Indian enter- 
prise soon developed into thriving *' sugar bushes." Extensive fields of wild rice 
also flanked the sluggish current of the Caucaugon on either side. Here Mr. 
Wheeler proceeded to make a clearing and to build the necessary structures in 
which to begin the work of a branch mission. The place soon came to be 
known as Odanah, the Indians later adding the m )re descriptive appellative of 
'•The Gardens." In the summer of 1845, Mrs. Wheeler came to Odanah. 
The house she occupied that first season was a primitive affair of logs, with a 
bark roof. The space thus inclosed served as parlor, sleeping, dining and 
school room, and on the Sabbath as a chapel. In regard to the Odanah enter- 
prise thus early undertaken, Mrs. Wheeler writes: "We feel that there is but 
little prospect of doing the Indians permanent good, while they are wandering 
about from place to place. Nothing can be done for their civilization under 
such circumstances; and we find that Christianity and civilization go hand in 
hand. They are inseparable." At Odanah she soon gathered for instruction 
about fifty pupils, the majority of whom were boys. It was indeed at first 
hand that she took them for training, wholly innocent hitherto of any tovxch of 
culture. She thus describes i their appearance: "Some of them came with 
their long black hair streaming over their shoulders. Other with it braided, 

> Wintoiof 1845. 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 241 

with thimbles and potato balls attached to the ends. Others with it tied 
lip with a string of red flannel, and others again, still more exquisite in their 
tastes, had a bunch of wild flowers tied in. Their hands and faces looked as if 
they were perfect strangers to the blessings of cold water. However, I could 
not help loving some of them at least; and I spent many happy hours with my 
wild, bright-eyed Indian children in the shanty." An extract from a letter 
written to the Young People's Missionary society of Lowell, Massachusetts, is 
interesting as showing how one's estimate of the Indian character may need re- 
vision after actual contract with them. She writes: * * "This 
whole subject is invested with such a sacredness and encircled with such a halo 
of romance, that it is impossible for others to get the subject before their minds 
in a true light; to obtain a correct impression. They have heard so much of 
t'lie poetry of Indian character, of his proud and lofty bearing, of his grati- 
tude for favors, and of the beautiful simplicity of nature's children, that they 
entirely lose sight of the darker shades of the picture. Perhaps few have had 
more of this feeling than I had myself when I first came to this country ; but 
I can assure you that it did not require many weeks of actual experience on the 
ground, to put to flight all such ideas. I found it was sober, prose business ; a 
stern reality, but yet a most precious, a mo.st blessed work." Mr. Wheeler, 
while appreciating the difficulty of the problem, felt that the work was indeed 
a blessed one. He writes : " I have never seen the day yet, when I regretted 
having come to preach the gospel to these poor people. Could you see these 
poor people as we do, in all their blindness and sin, you would feel more than 
ever before, that it was not by might nor by power, but by the spirit of the 
Lord, that men are to be saved." The first snow storm of this first season at 
Odanah, was the signal for their return to the island to continue there the work 
for the winter. 

In the spring of 1846, Mr. Wheeler began laying the foundations for sub- 
stantial and permanent work at Odanah. The needed buildings were erected, 
and one. which was completed in the fall, was occupied by his family ; and 
from that time, till the end of his missionary service, continued to be their 
home. It came to be a home very much endeared to the heart of every mem- 
ber of that household ; and how could it be otherwise with two such lives to 
hallow it? Now that both have been gathered to the home above and the "rest 
that remaineth ; " with what love does memory cherish all the associations of 
that dear old mission home, the morning and evening worship with the never- 
failing hymn of faith, the verses of Scripture, the prayer, and the day between 
these two gateways filled with its appointed routine of service. And then the 
anniversaries in the old home. Its Thanksgiving days, Christmasses, New 
Year's days and its Fourths of July, all made bright and gladsome by the 
"singleness" of the one heart of love of that father and mother. Nor must 
tlie 2(kh of April be forgotten, the anniversary of their marriage. Many a 
tree ])lanted on that day keeps green the memory of that first love. But the 
Sabbath.s of that home touch the springs of tenderest recollections. How full 



242 IN .UNNAMED WIS(X)NSIN. 

of sweet solicitude were these hearts, lest the day should he misspeut and its 
blessings unappreciated. How careful were they that every thing in that home 
should be in order the night before and that nothing obtrude to weaken the 
sense of sacredness that their convictions told them belonged to the Sabbath, 
and all this without making the children feel that it was either an irksome or 
tiresome day. But the sentiment of that line of the old hymn came to be theirs : 

" Thine earthly Sabbaths Lord we love." 
And again as expressed in those other lines of the hymn: 
" Day of all the Aveek the best, 
Enibleni of eternal i-est." 
Aside from the regular church services, the sweet songs of Zion from the 

old "Plymouth Collection" and from other sources, had a prominent place 
in the home observance of the day ; and as the twilight deepened into night, 
tlie family never failed to gather about the mother to listen, with rapt attention, 
to the old Bible stories aijd the lessons she invariably drew from them. But 
the dear old mission home. can live only in memory till the coming of that day 
of redemption, when the God of the covenant shall complete again the house- 
hold circle of those old mission days, now broken but for a time. 

During this first winter in the new home at Odanah, Mr. Wheeler con- 
ducted services at the mining and logging camps in the vicinity. Mi-s. Wheeler 
frequently accompanied him and was always courteously received. The greasy 
packs of cards were kept in the background and rough words held in abeyance 
during their stay at the camps. She rever went empty-handed, but alvvays filled 
with good things, as was her heart with love. The home-cooked food she would 
take, sui)plemented with papers, magazines and books that, might be spared from 
the mission always found hungry men and appreciative hearts in these camps. 
The books passed from one circle of readers to another, and in this way eight- 
een volumes of Abbott's histories were literally read to pieces and .D'Aubigne's 
History of the Reformation was about as seriously devoured. 

In her own home, Mi-s. Wheeler was the most unselfish and devoted of 
mothers. Her tasks had no relation to the hour-glass of mere time service, but 
early and late was loving toil poured forth for her family as unstintedly and 
joyously as a lark's song. She was always abounding in those youthful sym- 
pathies that made her so companionable to her children and so beloved of all 
young people. She was always in toucli with young life ; an appreciative sharer 
of its pains.fwd pleasures. And? so it was not much less than intuitive for her 
to. kindle, each year, the enthusiasms of her always youthful spirit over the ob- 
servance of recurring anniversary days. She was the inspiration, and at the 
same time, the happiest expression of such occasions. Thanksgiving day must 
be celebrated with all its delightful features of family reunion and good cheer 
as in the old New England home. The. blessedness of giving, rather than of 
receiving, was the never-failing lesson of the Christmas season. She never 
broke the spell with which child-wonder invested all the preliminaries leading 
up to the Christmas tree and the mysteries of Santa Clans. It was a very 
happy expectant grou]) that gathered about tlie magic tree, which had been set 



MKS. HAIUUKT WOOD WHEELER. 248 

up either in the large (lining-hall of the boarding-school or in the school house, 
as convenience might suggest. Its glories were curtained from the little throng, 
— in which were included the Indian girls and boys of the boarding-school, as 
well as the members of the mission families, — until their exuberance of spirits 
had. found its joyous outlet in song. And while the strains of "Happy 
Greeting to AH" resounded on every side, those behind the curtain, and in the 
secret of Santa Claus, were lighting up the innumerable candles of the little 
mother's own making. And then the veil was drawn and the perennial miracle 
of the evergreen tree stood revealed. The candles twinkled to the music of 
dancing eyes. The numberless little cakes in every variety of form, sparkled 
in holiday frosting. The less numerous and half-hidden surprises of candy and 
nuts shown wl'h softened glow through their dainty bags of gauze. The daz- 
zle of Indian bead-work in many forms of fanciful pattern and rich coloring 
hightened the charm. The many little " mokuks " of birch bark curiously 
carved and filled with maple sugar, the square parcels of maple gum-sugar done 
up in birch bark and tietl with shreds or strings of basswood bark, the pairs of 
m )ccasins with thsir rich embroideries, the mittens of buckskin and bright col- 
ored yarns — these, and many other kinds of fruit, burdened that tree from top- 
most bough to base. Bat that base had its own peculiar attractions for tha 
boys. About it were grouped the coveted sled or tobbogan, the pairs of snow- 
shoes with their brigiit trimmings, the gayly-stained bows and arrows, tlie baby 
ox-yoke for yoking up pet yearlings, and such other things as boys prize. Then 
began the disenchantment of the tree in the distribution of the gifts; and, after 
that, a short address, appropriate to the occasion, carried home to the heart on 
the wings of song. A round of good, old-fashioned games concluded the fes- 
tivities. Thus flowed Christmas tide at the mission ; and its warm currents of 
glad cheer never failed to soften down the sterner realities of the work and to 
make its privations and hardships seem less drear. 

Mrs. Wheeler's thoughtful care, though taxed in so many directions, did 
not overlook the children's birthdays. In the earlier days of the mission, the 
mother, attired in a green Irish poplin gown of rich texture and elaborate de- 
sign, was inseparably associated in the minds of the older children with those 
celebrations. A table, spread with the linen and set with the china, I'eserved 
for state occasions only, still further dignified such days. And then the happy 
recipient of these honors was remembered with some delicacy to which he was 
specially partial and which had been fondly hoanled till the set day had come. 
The opportunity was not lost of sup2)lementing all with kindly words of coun- 
sel — often in the language of Scripture. But in her care and solicitude for her 
family, all days were as birthdays. How many and delightful evening hours of 
reading before the good nights were said ; how many hours of plying of the 
needle after all others had retired : and, after that, how many hours spent with 
candle or lamp in hand, making the nightly round, sim])ly to assure her heai't 
that all was well with the sleeping children ; and finally how many hours, reach- 
ing far into the night, of fervent prayer and of personal communing with God 



244 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

and his Scriptures. The sum of them all is known to Him only, " who seeth in 
secret." Nor were these outgoings of her life for her own children alone ; but 
under the hovering of these wings of her care and solicitude, were gathered, at 
various times and for periods of many years in some instances, the motherless 
girl, the homeless boy, the tired-out teacher and the broken-down missionary. 

The days that brought the missionary box and annual supplies from '-be- 
low" (a word mysteriously significant, in the minds of the children, of teeming 
cities and of cultured white people), came to be somewhat of the nature of 
anniversary days, and looked forward to with expectation that was never dis- 
appointed. The box came from the church and Lowell relatives of Mrs. 
Wheeler, and its opening at the mission home was always an occasion of joy, 
not unmingled with the tear that the heart could not keep back as the tokens of 
loving remembrance were brought to view. But this sketch, in its unfolding, 
must not linger too long within the magnetic circle of that purely household 
life ; though a return to the chronological development of the work may seem 
somewhat abrupt. 

The progress of the woi'k among the Indians at Odanah is indicated in the 
following extract from a letter ^ of Mr. Wheeler's to his father. * " We 
have had a very good season here this year. The Indians have gathered 
quite a crop of corn this fall and their potatoes will be good. This people are 
making sure progress in civilization, and, during the spring and summer, more 
attended the meetings than at any other time since we have been here, and our 
school also has been better attended. But what will be the result of all our la- 
bor here yet, we can not tell. One thing to our minds is certain, that the gospel 
is the only thing that will ever save this people even for time. I am fully con- 
vinced that they will be civilized only in proportion as they are brought under 
the influences of religion. We feel that the present is a most critical time with 
the Indians in this vicinity. The laws of the state are such that any Indian 
who adopts the habits of civilized life, can become a citizen. And as the gos- 
pel is that alone which will make any fundamental change in their habits, we 
feel that a great weight of responsibility rests upon us, to do what we can to 
interpose this saving influence between them and annihilation ; and what we do 
must be done quickly." 

In the fall of 1850, Mrs. Wheeler with the children returned, for the first 
time since marriage, to her Lowell home. She not only needed the change and 
rest, but wished to give her children the advantage of a winter's schooling in a 
thriving city. The opportunity was well improved, and all returned to Odanah 
the following summer. At once Mrs. Wlieeler entered upon the work that, 
for the few months of her absence, had been intermitted. It was gratifying 
to note evidences of advancement on the part of the Indians. One by one 
they forsook their wigwams and began to establish themselves in more perma- 
nent dwellings, to cultivate larger tracts of land, to send their children to school 
more freely, and in many ways to adopt the wliite man's methods. But the 

1 Dated at Bad River. September 28th, 1848. 



MRS HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 245 

missionaries felt more than ever that gospel motives should be the basis of this 
upward movement in the lives of the Indians. In a letter written at this time, 
Mr. AVheeler gives expression to this feeling: ""We are becoming more thor- 
oughly convinced that, if this people are ever saved for time as well as eternityi 
it must be through the instrumentality of a preached gospel. No radical 
changes can be expected, even in tlieir mode of life, except they be made upon 
a gospel basis. Civilizing influences only, do not go deep enough. Not even 
schools or boarding-schools should be sustained at the expense of the direct 
preaching of the gospel ; though they are both [to be] desired when both can 
go together." Again he writes: ''Those children who are most regular at 
school are most constant in their attendance upon our meetings. The parents 
of these children^ too, are among our most constant hearers on the Sabbath, 
and thus our school becomes a door of entrance to the sanctuary." A more 
extended extract from a letter i to his father, details some interesting phases of 
the work : " We have had a very pleasant winter thus far. The snow is not 
over two feet deep. We rarely have more than three feet of snow in this re- 
gion, though back on the hills it is from five to six. Our Indians received their 
payment again last fall at La Pointe,- in goods and money. There is a pros- 
pect th:it they will be permitted permanently to remain here, and have their 
farmer, carpenter and blacksmith restored to them. The people feel quite en- 
couraged. They are making great calculations about planting next spring, and 
we shall do all we can to aid them. There will be more Indians here than we 
have seen for yeais. Our people were never more quiet and orderly than now. 
There is no liquor among them. I have not seen an Indian drunk since last 
fall, and that was not here. They feel fully resolved to put away pei'manently 
the ' Ish-ko-da-wa-bo,' 'fire >vater.' I hope they will be as good as their woi'd. 
Our meetings were never so well attended as this winter. Our school-house is 
full and some of them listen with serious attention. Miss Spooner also has a 
good school ; much better than we have ever had before. We have a singing- 
school also once a week, attended by nearly all the children and youth of the 
pliice. The singing is mostly in Indian. They sing by rote, knowing nothing 
about the rules ; but you would be pleased to see what fine voices some of them 
have. We have also a Sabbath school which embraces nearly all the youno- 
people of the place. So you see I have enough to occupy all my working hours, 
week days and Sabbaths. Our religious exercises are in Indian, which requires 
considerable labor and study to prepare for. We hope the season will not pass 
away without our seeing some fruit of our labor, some souls brought to a sav- 
ing knowledge of the truth. There are a few cases of earnest religious en- 
quiry. It would be our greatest source of joy, could we .see some of these 
dark-minded ones coining to Christ for salvation. Our station needs much to 
be re-inforced. There is not a Christian brother to offer a prayer nearer than 
a hundre<l miles in any direction. No American family nearer than fifteen 

' Dated at Bad River, .lamiary -'^ 1st, 18fi4. 
2 See page 1 en. 



246 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN, 

miles and but three of them within a hundred miles." 

But " these dark-minded ones " had mortal bodies that needed redemption 
as well as minds to enlighten and souls to save, and so these two servants of 
God found that the medical side of their work was no small tax upon their 
sympathies and strength. A meager set of dentist's instruments, a medicine 
chest well filled, a pocket leathex'-ease of surgical instruments, and a small 
magnetic battery, comprised the equipment for this branch of the work. The 
unenlightened aboriginal mind naturally invested them with magical powers. 
But this soon gave way before the subtler magic of sympathizing hearts, poui'- 
ing the oil and wine of self-sacrificing love into lives whose very helplessness 
constituted the strong appeal; "For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: 
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me in 
naked and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, 
and ye came unto me." During the early spring of 1854, the epidemic of 
small pox swept the reservation. Two Frenchmen from St. Paul had brought 
the contagion to Madelaine island, where many were exposed before the nature 
of the disease was known. Mr. Wheeler, however, was sent for, and promptly 
vaccinated every inhabitant of La Pointe. Returning to the reservation, he 
found the epidemic had preceded him and the Indians in a state of panic in 
consequence. Vigorous measures were necessary, and carefully complied with, 
on the part of the people. It was a trying ordeal for the two missionaries. 
The little daughter Julia, in a letter to her grandparents, uses this language : 
"Mother would write you if she had time to do so. She has to work very 
hai'd, and sits up at night to sew. The small pox is at L. P. [La Pointe] and 
yesterday father vaccinated the Indians till he was faint, and then mother vac- 
cinated a while." A month later Mrs. Wheeler writes her parents, under date 
of March 6th, 1854: "I had intended to write you and several other Lowell 
friends long letters by this mail, but the past fortnight has been one of peculiar 
trial and anxiety to us. We have passed through all the horrors of the small 
pox. A fortnight ago, a company of Indians came here from across the lake 
in a state of the greatest excitement and alarm. Three or four of their num- 
ber had been taken down with the small pox : these they had left behind. 
Mr. Wheeler inmiediately vaccinated all of them, but the next day two more were 
taken down. Mr. Wheeler fitted up a house and put them into it, and hired a 
Frenchman and his wife, who had had the disease, to take care of them. The 
next day there were thi-ee others brought down. One of them had the most 
virulent kind ; the confluent small pox, and died in about a week after he was 
taken. The others are all recovering, and we think will be able to be out this 
week. We have all been much exposed, particularly Mr. Wheeler, as he vis- 
ited the patients almost every day. We have used every preventive in our 
power. I smoked Mr. Wheeler most tlioroughly, I can assure you, evary time 
after coming from the hospital ; and every time before he went in, he tied up 
his face and put a rag round, wet with the chloride of lime. The families that 
have been exposed, have been kei)t entirely separate from the others. Vaccina- 



MRS HAUKIET WOOD WHEELER. 247 

tion has taken well everywhere, and we hope the disease is arrested. We are 
all in the hands of our Heavenly Father, and here we feel we are safe. We 
do find it good to trust in the Lord." The usual routine of school and church 
work was necessarily intermitted for the time. In writing home of the matter, 
Mrs. Wheeler says : " We have dismissed our schools, and shall have no meet- 
ings for the present. Mr. Wheeler advised the Indians not to visit from house 
to house, but to remain quietly at home. It has seemed very lonely here to-day, 
no one moving about. The people acquiesce very cheerfully in any regulation 
Mr. Wheeler proposes. One man told me yesterday that the Indians had given 
their bodies to Mr. Wheeler. They trust in him, and anything he told them to 
do they should do." All the ill effects of this period of epidemic were soon over- 
come, and work resumed again in its normal order. The lessons of this visita- 
tion were full of significance to the Indians. It helped to reveal to them un- 
mistakably the character of missionary effort in their behalf. It melted the 
cold reserve that excluded the gospel and opened their hearts more than ever to 
Christian influences. From the sanitary standpoint much was taught them 
which served its purpose in averting any repetition of such an experience. 

Many incidents of interest might be cited from this medical branch of the 
work, as showing the versatility requisite to meet emergencies of frequent re- 
currence. One case will serve as illustrative of this feature of compulsory 
readiness on the part of the missionary to meet the unexpected in his work. 
The head chief, w^liile off the reservation, had yielded to liquor and in a drunk- 
en brawl, hatl received, in the fleshy part of the leg, an ugly gash six inches 
long that laid bare the bone. In this condition he remained for two days on the 
sands of Chequamegon Point, under the stupor of the accui'sed '"fire water." 
On the third day he was brought to his home at Odanah and the help of the 
Mission summoned. Mr. Wheeler was away, and there was no other alternat- 
ive but for Mrs. Wheeler to respond to the call. She found the chief in much 
pain and discomfort, but very humble. An examination of the wound disclosed 
a condition of things from which she instinctively shrank, and yet taxed her 
sympathies to the utmost. The sand, with neglect and hot summer weather, 
had contributed very materially to the repulsiveness of the task of dressing 
such a wound. A thorough cleansing was the first process. The gaping edges 
were then brought together as closely as possible with long strips of adhesive 
plaster. It taxed to the limit all the strength and courage she could command, 
to push the surgeon's needle through the toughened cuticle and make secure the 
stitches that had to be taken. A liberal anointing of fur balsam was next ap- 
plied, and the necessary bandaging to keep all in place completed the dressing. 
In three weeks the chief was about as usual: but just prior to the next occasion 
that called him from the reservation, he came to Mr. Wheeler to borrow his 
hat which, he said, would keep off the evil spirit. It would be more accurate 
to infer that, as there had never been a "brick in that hat," its. efficacy to pro- 
tect the wearer against bad spirits would be more apparent. 

It was in these, as well as other ways, that Mrs. Wheeler exhibited re- 



24S IN TTNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

markable powers of enrlurance. In a letter to friends, Mr. Wheeler writes : 
" Harriet is truly a wonderful woman. With an amount of care and toil which 
would crush an ordinary woman, she somehow makes her way through it. But 
she has a wonderfully elastic constitution." And yet the constant over-strain- 
ing of that " elastic constitution " made serious inroads on her health and, under 
date of July 2nd, 1858, Mrs. Wheeler writes her parents: "My health during 
the last year has been very miserable. Last fall and winter I had two attacks 
of congestion of the lungs; and I have not yet fully recovered from the effects 
of them.' I was very much disappointed in not belnj able to visit home last 
fall; but my health was such that it was impossible to get there. You have, 
doubtless, thought it very strange that I did not write you ; but I am sure, could 
you see how I am situated, you would feel that I am excusable. I find enough 
to do to consume three times the amount of time and strength I have, and I 
am obliged to leave undone many things which seem absolutely necessary to be 
done. My children suffered much last fall for the want of suitable clothing; 
and when I was able to work, I worked day and night. Twelve, and some- 
times one o'clock at night, still found me plying my needle. About the middle 
of February I took a severe cold which settled on my lungs, and for three 
weeks I could not speak a loud word and, for as many more, only with the 
greatest difficulty. I have now a little daughter three months old. Physicians 
still tell me, that if I wish to live, I must leave hei-e. Tlie Prudential Com- 
mittee at Boston have given me leave to visit the states, and Mr. Clark, one of 
the district agents of the Board, who is now on a visit to us, says I must go by 
all means, as soon as it is safe to leave here." Actiug under these instructions, 
Mrs. Wheeler and her children left the mission early in September, to spend 
the winter in Lowell. Mr. Wlieeler accompanied his family as far as Detroit, 
where they attended the annual meeting of the American B^ard, and then on 
to Cleveland, where the two older children at school were to join the mother in 
the ti'ip to the East. 

From Cleveland Mr. Wheeler returned to Odanah to superintend the 
completion of the buildings of the manual labor training-school, which care he 
found it necessary to carry in addition to his usual duties. Mrs. Wheeler, in 
the letter just quoted from, wi'ites of the matter as follows: "We are now 
in the midst of the care, labor and anxiety of erecting buildings for our board- 
ing-school operation. Our school house is most finished, and the boarding-house 
will be commenced in a few days. This is a great addition to Mr. Wheeler's 
cares and labors, and I sometimes feel he will sink under it. Under these cir- 
cumstances it is very trying for me to leave him here alone. Pray mudi for 
us, my dear parents, that we may be guided by infinite wisdom, aiul that as 
our day is. so our strength may be." Aside from his Sabbath day ministra- 
tions, which comprised two, and sometimes three services, his daily rounds 
tlirough the dwellings of the settlement to read and expound the Scriptures and 
visit the sick, necessarily took much of his time. 



MKs, KARRI r-yr wood wheelf.r. ->4;> 

Early in the year 1859, Mr. Wheeler learned that the government was 
planning to open for sale the Red Cliff and La Pointe portions of the Indian 
reservation, through a misconception of the intimate relation these localities sus- 
tained to the Odanah reserve, and so not appreciating the effect such ill-advised 
action would have on all the Indians of that region. It had also come to his 
knowledge that the Lac Court Oreilles reserve, of three townships, was to be 
subdivided and offered for sale, without making provision for another locality 
for those Indians. These, with other matters relating to the welfare of the 
Odanah Indians, made it necessary for him to go to Washington at once. With 
an Indian guide he set out in the depth of winter, through the woods as far as 
Chippewa Falls. The exposure and hardship incident to this initial stage of 
the journey were very txying. But immediate action and personal represen- 
tation at Washington in behalf of the Indians, were essential. While on his 
way, he writes from Oberlin, Ohio, under date of March 12th, 1859, to Mrs. 
Wheeler at Lowell : 

'* 1 wish to leave by the middle of the week, but must come East by way of 
Washington. Business affecting the welfare of our Indians and that of the Lac 
Court Oreilles Indians, concerning their reserve, require the prompt attention 
of the department. The whole of the Lac Court Oreilles reserve, three town- 
ships, has been recently subdivided, and, by proclamation of the President, is 
to be offered for sale. I called at the land-office at Eau Claire on my way 
down, and found that no instructions had been left at the office to reserve any 
land for the Indians. Mr. Fitch [of the Michigan agency] had instructions 
from the department to locate this reserve, but neglected to do so. I noted 
down the townships, covering the land the Indians want, while at the land-office. 
Mr. Fitch gives me a letter recommending these townships to be withheld from 
sale. The object is to get an ordei" from the Indian department to the land- 
office at Eau Claire, to respect the Indian reserve, and all will be right. One 
hundred thousand acres is too nmch for the Indians to lose. Other matters re. 
quire attention, affecting the interests of our people and the Indians at Lac du 
Flambeau." A further quotation from a letter ^ to Mrs. Wheeler indicates a 
favorable consideration of the object of his mission to the capital : " I attended 
an interesting prayer-meeting this morning, where something like a dozen cler- 
gymen, of different denominations, for the most part conducted the devotions. 
Saw my old friend, now Dr. Sunderland, a warm-hearted Christian and earnest 
j)reacher of the gospel. He went with me to see the conmiissioner [of Indian 
affairs]. To-day has l)een a day of progress with me in Indian matters. I 
have had a very free talk with Mr. Mix, and he is disposed to look carefully 
into the affairs of our Indians and see that some of the promises made our 
people by different agents, are fulfilled. But we could not finish our business 
to-day. He wishes me to call again to-morrow morning. 1 shall think the day 
well spent* if we can make as much progress as we have to-day. Let us have 
patience then." 

' Dated at Wasbington, D. C, March 2.'ird. 18fi9. 



250 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

After bringing his business at Washington to a satisfactory conclusion, he 
joined his 'family at Lowell, very much worn with the multiplicity of his cares. 
A two weeks' rest was the utmost limit of time he felt he could allow himself, 
before undertaking the return journey with liis family to the mission field. 
They arrived at Odanah early in May. Two weeks after, Mr. Wheeler was 
taken with hemorrhage of the lungs, and for weeks his life was despaired 
of. In a letter i to her parents, Mrs. Wheeler writes of his critical condition : 
" He told me last night that he felt he was standing on the verge of the dark 
valley, ready to go down into it, or to return to life just as the Great Master 
should see best. I feel exceedingly anxious about him. It seems as if he 
could not be spared from his family now; and our poor people — what will 
they do without him ? They express a great deal of sympathy and anxiety. 
Some of them say they can not sleep, for they feel as if their father was to be 
taken away from them. Others, as they take my hand, exclaim: 'Oh, surely 
trouble has come to us now.' * * j have admitted a few to see him 

and they invariably thank the Great Spirit for permitting them to see him 
again." Mrs. Wheeler also writes of the many kindly services of the white 
friends at Ashland and Bay City. With the return of warmer weather, Mr. 
Wheeler's strength rallied somewiiat. His physician warned him, however, that 
he must discontinue preaching if he hoped at all to regain any measure of 
health. But the missionary could not let go the work, into which his heart's 
life and faith had gone so deeply ; and he decided to remain at his post, though 
under ever narrowing limitation of strength. The burden of responsibility 
rested each year more heavily on Mrs. Wheeler. While the work of the mis- 
sion was carried on as usual, she was untiring in tender care of her husband, 
cheering him with the companionship of her sunny heart; but the shadow of 
wasting consumption was creeping on apace. In the fall of 1866. the physi- 
cian told them that Mr. Wheeler could not survive the winter at Odanah. Re- 
moval was imperative, and providential indications seemed to point out Beloit 
as their future home. This sketch can not dwell on the sad details of the 
breaking up of that mission home and of the sundering of ties that had taken 
deep root there. 

On the morning of departure, the baptism of a child of Christian Indian 
parents, in the dining-hall of the boarding-school, was the impressive close of a 
missionary service of twenty-five years. When the family reached the bank of 
the river, where the mission sail-boat was awaiting them, they found the entir;» 
village gathered to bid them farewell. It was the language of the heart that 
spoke in tears as the boat bore from their sight forever, their counselor and 
trusted friend of a quarter of a century. In touching incident, it was not un- 
like that histoi'ic leave-taking set fortli io such tender simplicity in the closing 
verses of the twentieth chapter of the Acts. 

That first ^vinter in Beloit was memorable for the untried responsibilities 
it brought to the mother of that household. With limited means of subsistence, 

' Dated at Odanali, June 24th, 185!» 



Mils. HAIIKIET WOOD WHEELER. 2;")! 

the courage of faith was taxed daily to meet the problems involved in the care 
of a stricken husband and the providing, in a large measure, for the necessities 
of eight children. It was an experience requiring a rare degree of Christian 
fortitude, and yet one made the more memorable by the love and helpfulness 
of new-found friends. And thus were the tendrils of new friendships rooted 
in the soil of apparent adversity. The faith of the true believer is ever find- 
ing its fruitage in a new liope. And so did this first winter of trial of faith at 
length merge into the spring-time of fresh hopefulness. Mr. "Wheeler's health 
seemed to improve and, as strength returned, he devoted his time to the further 
working out of a new principle as applied to windmills, which, in its cruder 
form, had already been put to practical test on mission ground. His cousin, 
Samuel Chipman, Esq., of Warsaw, Indiana, visited him at this time, and was 
deeply interested in the new principle for regulating windmills. He encour- 
aged Mr. Wheeler to work out the necessary drawings and model for the patent 
office. This was done and, with the financial aid generously contributed by 
Mr. Chipman, the patent was granted September 10th. 1867. Under date of 
January 23rd, 1868, Mr. Wheeler writes his father, now well on in years, and 
still at the old Vermont homestead: "I do not regret coming to this place. 
We find many kind friends here, and society is all that could be desired. We. 
have a snug little home, which makes us qtiite comfortable this winter weather. 
I got no bees as I expected last spring; as my windmill has fully occupied 
my time, and may take me away from home much for the next few months, 
if health will permit me to travel. You will like to know, perhaps, how I 
succeeded with the mill. I have spent a good deal of time on it, experiment- 
ing and getting it into good shape. It now suits, so far as the general plan of 
it is concerned. Two points have especially engaged my attention: 1: To 
get the mill so as to run nicely. 2 : To simplify and improve the construc- 
tion of it, so that it will be strong and cheaply built. I have, as yet, put iip 
but two hundred-dollar mills, both of which drive pumps in wells fifty feet 
deep, and give good satisfaction. Practical mechanics and machinists are much 
pleased with it, — it is so simple in its construction and accomplishes such im- 
portant ends. It is self-regulating and will take care of itself in any wind, 
however gusty and strong it may blow. For deep wells on our prairies to raise 
water for watering stock, it is a mill, we think, whicli will be much wanted. It 
is not yet remunerative, the balance has been out of pocket thus far, but I hope 
the scale will turn it my favor before long. I suffer, as many inventors do, in 
not having the means to bring it rapidly into notice. But, as in every new thing, 
we must be contented to move slowly and wait patiently for results. The mill 
in its present form, is used only to work pumps. I hope soon to get up another 
form for driving machinery. I feel quite confident I can get one up in a shape 
that will give better satisfaction than anything now out, though it must be con- 
fessed there are not a few difficulties in the way. So you see I continue to 
keep busy, and, having something of the versatility common to the Yankees, if 
I <an not do one thing T turn my hand to another. T shall never be able to 



25i> IN UNXAMEl) WISCONSIN. 

pi-eaeh any more, but if I can get up a useful mill and provide for the wants 
of my family, one part of the end of life will be answered." 

In the mind of the inventor, as well as in that of Mrs. Wheeler, the evolu- 
tion of the "Eclipse" wind-mill was held to be in the direct line of their faith 
and as much the outcome of that same missionary spirit and effort as was the 
fruitage of their labors among the Indians. Five years of life were left Mr. 
Wheeler in which to lay the foundations for a new business. In the early win- 
ter of 1871, he was again prostrated with hemorrhage and, after a lingering ill- 
ness, the gentle spirit of this most patient sufferer was called home Sunday 
evening, February 25th, 1872. This sketch does not attempt to portray the 
character of Leonard Hemenway Wheeler: a man strong in his convictions of 
right, but not obtrusive, one who combined Christian gentility with sanctified 
tact. The funeral discourse, by his pastor, Rev. George Bushnell, was sympa- 
thetic and responsive to all the traits of that character which were justly and 
beautifully summed up in his text : ''Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no 
guile." 

This stroke of bereavement pressed with almost crushing weight upon 
Mrs. Wheeler. In a letter to her father two days before his death, she writes : 
"My dear father, I fear my precious husband is going rapidly down to the 
grave. Pray for us. Pray that he may be sustained to the last ; and that he 
may be spared protracted suffering. It seems to me I can not bear to see him 
suffer. I can not tell you how dark and desolate the future looks to me with- 
out him. But I know the Lord can make it all light." She kept the letter till 
Monday morning, when these few lines were added: 

"My dear father, brother and sisters: My precious husband has g»>ne 
home to his rest. He died last night at nine o'clock. Will be buried Wednes- 
day. Pray for us." She took this cup of affliction as from her Master. 

Again, in September of 1873, was Mrs. Wheeler's heart stricken; — this 
time in the death of her eldest daughter, Julia. In a letter to her father 
under date of November 6th, 18.73, she writes : "I found after all was 
over and sister Hannah had left me, I was completely prostrated. I was very 
weak and a little exertion would bring on trembling and palpitation of the heart. 
I have been passmg through the deep waters, my dear father. You have 
doubtless heard before this something about Julia's death. She died very sud- 
denly at last. We thought she would live until cold weather. She failed very 
rapidly after her return. She seemed to make a great effort to keep about un- 
til she could get home. She had no wish or expectation of getting well for 
three months before she died. She said to me that her only liope of salvation 
was that Jesus had died for her. She frequently asked us to read to her the 
53rd chapter of Isaiah and the hymn ' Just as I am without one plea.' She said 
to me one day that it seemed to her that this hymn expressed the whole gospel. 

"I have hope that she is now at rest with her dear father in the better land. 
Oh, my dear father, I can not tell you what a comfort it is to me, in my bereave- 
ments and loneliness, to feel that they are at rest. Earth seems so changed to 



MRS HAKKIpyr WOOD WHEELER. 253 

me, and heaven so much nearer.'' 

It would seem not inappropriate to the purpose of this memorial that 
some further account of this daughter Julia be given at this jjoint. She was 
possessed of a gifted mind, precocious in her studies and an omnivorous reader. 
None of the books at the mission escaped her, not excepting Neander's church 
history and some bulky volumes in theology. At seventeen, she was teaching 
in the public schools of Houghton, Michigan, where she found opportunity, 
in a family of culture, of still further enlarging her acquaintance with books. 
She had marked literary instincts and recognized ability as a writer. She con- 
tributed a series of sketches on "Early Protestant Missions on Lake Superior," 
to the Lake Superior Miner, over the signature '' Kitche-gume-wekwa " (Lady 
of the Great Lake), a name her Indian friends had given her. It was natural 
that she should soon come to have a deep interest in the welfare of the Indians, 
the sense of justice being a marked part of her strongly developed moral nature. 
As she became familiar with his character and acquainted with the wrongs he 
suffered at the hands of unscrupulous whites, she championed the cause of the 
red man with the intensity of infatuation. She wrote about it and addressed 
Christian audiences in its behalf. She took up the matter by correspondence 
with Senator Sumner who was interested to the degree of seeking further sug- 
gestions and of engaging the attention of Judge Doolittle, chairman of the com- 
mittee on judicial affairs, with whom she subsequently corresponded. Senator 
Sumner's first letter is given in full, since it touches the core of the difficulty, 
as it tlien existed : 

Senate Chamber, Jan. 18th, 1865. 

" I hasten to acknowledge your letter of January 13th. The condition of 
our Indian tribes has always caused me solicitude. The difficulty seems to me 
to be not so much in the system as in the men who are employed to carry it 
out. The same spirit animating its agents, no system could succeed, and the 
problem is to find men who, coming from the West, and familiar with Indian 
character and habits, are at once honest, unprejudiced and willing to work for 
the small compensation which the government can offer. Even if such men 
could be found, it is n )t easy for the appointing power to discriminate between 
honest men and well recommended rogues ; and once appointed, there are great 
difficulties in detecting fraud, especially as the feeling of the border population 
upon the subject of the Indians is far from just. I shall be glad of any sug- 
gestions you may be able to give me. Accept my best wishes and believe me 

Faithfully yours, 

Charles Sumner." 

While the direct outcome of her effort may not have been apparent at the 
time, in any immediate and favorable bearing upon the Indians, it may have 
had some weight in subsequently shaping the so-called peace policy of Presi- 
dent Grant, as carried out in the department of Indian affairs. 

Mrs. Wheeler was wont to think of her life as divided into periods of twen- 



2M IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

ty-five years. The first quadrant of this life-circle arched itself over the days 
of girlhood and young womanhood passed under the home roof at Lowell, 
Massachusetts. One base limb of this bow of promise rested on the date of her 
birth, December 4th, 1816, and the other upon the date that closed the period 
culminating in marriage, April 26th, 1841. The second period was spanned by 
the shining arc of twenty-five years of consecrated missionary service among 
the Ojibway Indians of Lake Superior, from 1841 to 1866. The third quarter 
of the circle bent its strong bow over varied experiences and successful activities 
that witnessed the firm establishment of a large manufacturing business at Be- 
loit. She made no note of the fact that five years more than the alloted "three 
score years and ten" of life had already passed over her; but her always young 
and hopeful spirit looked to the future with expectancy. Over what enterprise 
for Christ would the last quadrant of the circle of this charmed life, arch the 
halo of its benediction? 

Early in 1890, her son, Rev. E. P. Wheeler, was called to the pastorate of 
the First Congregational church of Ashland, Wisconsin. 

He recognized in the call an opportunity to take up some phases of the 
work so reluctantly laid down by the father, and to link the history of past service 
with a renewed effort toward larger things for the larger community to which 
he might minister. At the same time, it gave opportunity to enter again the 
gospel ministry, from which broken health had compelled him to withdraw for 
a time. While he felt drawn to the field by every consideration of past associa- 
tions that had become historic, and especially constrained also by the evident 
extremity of the church extending the call, yet he felt that the mother's counsel 
must determine his final decision. Without disclosing his own feelings in the 
matter, he sought her advice. As was her wont, she canvassed the whole qifes- 
tion before God in most earnest prayer; and, when, on certain Sunday evening, 
he asked to know the conclusion she had reached, she told him she thought the 
call to go to Ashland was from above. On the following Monday morning, he 
telegraphed the committee his acceptance. The prayer of the mother preceded 
him as he went to take uj) the work, nor, while life remained, did her prayers 
cease for that Avork, which, under the brooding of the Spirit, she saw develop 
and expand in new and unexpected directions. 

It is not within the limitations of this sketch to follow in detail the growth 
of these new phases of the work referred to, which seemed the direct outcome 
of the acceptance of that call. As the work unfolded, Mr. Wheeler felt more 
and more the significance of the early missionary labors in tliose regions, es- 
pecially in their relation to the mission he was sent to fulfill. The rapid move- 
ment of events could not but deepen the impression that, under Providence, he 
had, in an important sense, "entered into their labors." He found a growing 
interest among Christians generally, and especially among Congregationalists, 
in all that pertained to the history of those early mission days. 

This newly awakened interest centered locally in the old church and mis- 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 255 

sion-house still standing on Madeleine island. These stirrings of the old faith in 
new hearts, crystallized in the organization of the Lake Superior Congregation- 
al club. The question of Christian education as an evangelizing agent for 
North Wisconsin, was also in the air of these latter days of new beginnings. 
This asjjiration and prayer, in the hearts of a few, soon took on the significance 
of a movement culminating in the conference at Pratt. Wisconsin, in July, 1891. 
In its deliberations were I'epresented the clergy and prominent Christian laity of 
North Wisconsin, and leading Christian educators from other parts of the state 
and Minnesota. Their counsels resulted in the incorporation of the North Wis- 
consin academy, and this action was subsequently endorsed by the Winnebago 
convention of the Congregational body. ^ 

The new academy enterprise, to stand for the higher ideals of Christian 
education, readily gathered to itself the support of all the Christian element as 
well as the encouragement of all those not j^rofessedly Christian who yet ap- 
preciated the value of having such an institution in their community. Promi- 
nent citizens of Ashland, by liberal offers of land for a site and genei'ous 
pledges to the subscription list for necessaiy buildings, secured the location of 
the academy to their city. It is fitting, in connection with this movement, to 
mention the name of Dr. Edwin Ellis, the old-time friend and helper of mis- 
sionary days. The academy from the beginning was much in the heart and 
prayer of Mrs. Wheeler. It seemed to take up again the scarlet thread of pro- 
mise that had run through the texture of those former days of consecration to 
Christ's kingdom in North Wisconsin. 

In June of 1892, she received an invitation frotii the Lake Superior Con- 
gregational club to be present at exercises to be held on Madeleine island and 
at Ashland commemorative in part of the work of early Protestant missions on 
the island, and in part to give " local habitation and a name " to the academy 
movement in the laying of its corner-stone at Ashland. It was a great joy to 
Mrs. Wheeler to be able to accept the invitation and recognize in what she sub- 
sequently saw and heard, the good hand of the Lord in it all. By courtesy of 
Rev. J. N. Davidson, the following extracts are from his notes made at the 
time. "For years the old church at La Pointe stood unused and desolate. As 
it was but a few feet from the lake, it was at a latter time degraded by becom- 
ing a shelter for the building of boats. From this fate it was rescued by one 
who had received part of his early religious training within its walls. Rev. Ed- 
ward Payson Wheeler, then Congregational bishop of Ashland. Having ob- 
tained possession of the old church, he formally presented the title deed thereof 
to Mr. Eugene Arthur Shores, as trustee of the Lake Superior Congregational 
club. This was on Tuesday, July 12th, 1892. The exercises took place in a 
tent used by General Missionai'y Geoi'ge W. Nelson in his evangelistic work in 
the new villages of Northern Wisconsin. The tent was spread between the 
church and the lake. Among those present was the gracious woman, who, 
fifty-one years before had come to those shores as a bride. Beloit college and 



256 IN HNNAMEL) \V1S(M)XSIN. 

Carleton were represented, and there was attendance also from Chicago and 
Milwaukee. From the old Bible presented to the mission by Mr. L. M. 
Warren, and bearing in his handwriting the date, 'July lOtli, 1834, ' Rev. T. 
&. Grassie, secretary of the Wisconsin Home Missionary society, read the nine- 
tieth psalm. There followed the statement of some facts relating to tlie early 
history of the mission and the work therein of Mr. and Mrs. Wheelei". Secre- 
tary Joseph E. Roy showed how missionary service done for the Indians, had 
blessed in every way this whole nation. A Scripture lesson in the Ojibway 
language was read by Rev. John Clark. Then followed, as already mentioned, 
the formal transfer of the church property. The reverent voice, active mind 
and tender heart of our beloved Professor Blaisdell led in the memorial prayer. 
The da;^ closed with an address on the ' Pilgrim Faith ' by Rev. Judson Tits- 
worth of Milwaukee. 

'' Fittingly July 13th was called Educational Day. Ex-President Merrell 
of Ripon college and Professor A. H. Pearson of Carleton, spoke of different as- 
pects of Christian education. A party visited the old mission-house wherein 
Pastor Wheeler was born. Others sought the site of the old " Fort." A 
delegation of Ojibways from Odanah came again to the place where their fathers 
had been taught the lessons of the gospel. On this day also, there was organ- 
ized, in the old church, the North Wisconsin Home Missionary society. 

"Not formally connected with the history either of the mission or of the 
Ojibways, but in very truth with that of both, came, at Ashland, on Thursday, 
July 14th, 1892, the laying of the corner stone of the North Wisconsin 
academy. " 

The following extracts from a letter written at Asldand at tliis time by 
Mrs. Wheeler, to the home at Beloit, show her deep interest in the occasion : 
'• We reached here after a tedious trip Saturday at ten o'clock and have l)een in 
one whirl ever since. The two days of conference closed yesterday, and such 
days I Edward's hopes and expectations have been moie than realized. 
Crowds have attended and the papers that have been read have been remark- 
able papers. Dr. Roy's paper made a very deep impression. I can give you 
no idea of it till I see you. I hope it will be published. The weather has been 
perfect. Had it been ordered for tlie occasion it could not have been im- 
proved. How I wish I could give you all a picture of tlie day, as the boats 
moved out with band playing, flags floating in the breeze and loadetl down to 
the gunwale with a happy, enthusiastic crowd. The wind was strong enough 
to ripple the water thoroughly but not enough to make us seasick. Professors 
Blaisdell and Burr enjoyetl it to the full. I shall not attempt to tell you about 
the meetings on the island until I see you. 

"July 15th. I supposed we had had our best things at the island, but the 
interest culminated yesterday at the laying of the corner-stone of the academy. 
I send you a programme. Professor Blaisdell outdid himself. He made a 
most profound impression. I think the citizens of Asliland will not soon for- 
get him. " 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 2.^7 

The occasion, as a whole as well as in all its details, was one of rare sig- 
nificance to Mrs. Wheeler. The old enthusiasms thrilled her soul a,s the story 
of those morning days of missionaiy consecration was rehearsed. Her lively 
imagination again recalled the old scenes and lived over the old experiences. 
The old faces and old fellowships came again to a memory that made no ac- 
count of the half century that had passed away. So were her spiritual eyes 
lifted up unto the hills of God. 

The remaining days of this memorable summer of 1892 Mrs. Wheeler 
spent at Ashland and vicinity, greeting again the narrowing circle of old 
friends that had grown more dear to her as time passed. She revisited 
Odanah, the Indian mission with the founding and growth of which her prayer 
and life were so intimately associated. 

With what tender regard did the heart of those Indians flow out to her, 
their old-time teacher and helper. How they clung to her and drank in every 
word she had for them. With the pathos of genuineness did they call to mind 
the old days memorable with the many-sided helpfulness of her own life and 
eflfort in their behalf. " Now when we are sick," they would tell her, " there is 
none to help as you did, and we die. " While at the mission, it was a joy to 
her to visit once more the man who had been the faithful interpreter and assist- 
ant pastor for Mr. Wheeler during all the years of his ministry to that people, 
— Rev. Henry Blatchford, subsequently oi'dained as pastor by the presbytery 
and still ministering to the Indians in spiiitual things. For fifty -three years 
has he witnessed for Christ among his people and the evening twilight of his 
days finds his life molded into a character that will endure. 

In the early autumn Mrs. Wheeler returned to the home at Beloit with 
much improved health and buoyancy of spirit. For a number of years previous 
.she had not known what it was to go through a winter entirely free from any 
illness that required a physician's care. During the winter of 1892 and 1893, 
following her return, she, however, enjoyed exceptionally good health. With 
renewed interest and love, she took up again the thread of household affairs 
and felt again the enriching influences of all those fellowships with neighbors 
and friends and of that which came through the activities of the church, all of 
which, in their combined effect, made her so appreciative of such j)rivileges. 
Her affection for the old church had deepened under the pulpit and parish 
ministrations of her beloved pastor. Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, for whom she had the 
highest esteem. Thus environed she felt herself still a child of the covenant, 
one to whom the promises of a loving Father had been fulfilled. ''At evening 
time there shall be light." She had ah'eady lived a long and serviceable life, 
wliether the time be measured by the flight of years, or by the deeds that were 
the fruitage of a consuming zeal for good works. 

The spring and sunmier of 1893 found her health very variable, culmi- 
nating in the winter of the same year in a severe attack of la. fjrippe. So pro.s- 
trating and prolonged was this illness that she at times felt she could never 
rally from it. The spring of 1 894 brought her the courage to undertake a visit 



25S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

to her son and family in Chicago in the hope that the change might prove bene- 
ficial. Though eveiy effort was made to relieve her of all burden and to surround 
her with all that ministering love might suggest, her stay, thoroughly enjoyed 
as far as strength permitted, served to reveal how broken was her strength. 
On her return it was a source of regret to her, to which she gave expression at 
different times, that extreme prostration made it impossible to call on dear 
friends, in Chicago, whom she felt she would not see again in the earthly life. 
Her constitution was of that responsive type that quickly regains its balance 
when recovery has once set in. But, in this instance, vitality was so slow in 
asserting itself that her physician felt she must have the tonic of a more in- 
vigorating air than prevailed at Beloit during the summer months, in order, if 
possible, to regain lost ground before entering another winter. She knew what 
the oxygen of Lake Superior air had done for her depleted strength in other 
days, and it was thought best that she spend three months or more at Ashland, 
Madeleine island and vicinity. It was originally planned that she should leave 
for the north July 1st, but she could not bear the thought of thus missing the 
intended visit of the two grandchildren, who with their father and his recent 
bride were to spend the 4th of July at the old home. The departure was ac- 
cordingly postponed till the 10th. As the date approached, it occurred to the 
elder daughter, Mrs. Leonard, that a gathering of old neighbors and friends 
with a family reunion would be a very pleasant association for the mother to 
carry with her. The plan was no sooner conceived than put into effect. The 
thought was a happy one delightfully carried out. That evening of greetings, 
good fellowship overflowing in songs, the genial and happy mood of every one 
present, and then the farewells, — it surely was not then revealed to any one of 
that dear circle that " Mother " Wheeler would never be greeted again save in 
the home on high. 

On the afternoon of the 10th, in company with her daughter Hattie, the 
journey to Ashland was undertaken. Her son's home at Ashland was reached 
the day following. Though forest fires had been prevailing in the vicinity for 
some days and the smoke continued to shroud the city, intensifying the heated 
term through which it was passing, yet the nights were cool and the air of the 
tonic nature that induces sleep. Mrs. Wheeler gained strength from the first, 
and for two weeks enjoyed the sense of slowly returning liealth. Tlie two 
weeks were also a time of rare blessing to her in that she was privileged again 
to meet with old fi-iends and to receive the greetings and kindly attentions of 
many who loved her. Above all, was she glad to revisit once more the scenes 
and recall the memories of earlier days. In a letter home dated July 21st, 
1894, she writes: "I have not been able to go on the lake yet, but hope to 
go this evening. Mr. Shores has a new steamboat, to be christened to-night. 
He has invited us all to be present and to go over to Bayfield on an excursion 
trip. Mrs. Shores very kindly offered to send her carriage if I would go." 
And then with the buoyancy of her always youthful spirit she speaks in the 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 250 

letter of tlie calls she had received, tlie invitations to pass the summer on Made- 
leine island, and the kindness of all. And so it seemed, from every human 
consideration, that Mrs. Wheeler was to pass a season under most favorable 
conditions for the regaining of lost strength. But the Father, in whose hands 
are the times and the seasons, had appointed otherwise. 

The letter just I'eferred to was received at Beloit on the 24th of July and 
on the evening of the 25th, occured the accident, as we say in our human way, 
through which the Lord who had given took again his own to himself. It was 
a very happy group of three that sat in a happy home, chatting of plans for the 
morrow. They were the mother, the daughter and the granddaughter, all of 
the same age in the lively interest manifested. The son, Rev. E. P. Wheeler, 
was not at home that evening. About nine o'clock, the youngest of the three 
counted the strokes of a fire-alarm and ran to the door with the remark that it 
meant their district. The other two followed and saw the burning building in a 
neighboring block in the direction of the woods. A short walk leads from the 
front steps, terminating in two steps down to the broad street-walk. After go- 
ing down the front steps, the mother had apparently gone for a better view di- 
agonally across the lawn and, at the edge of it, not appreciating at night the 
difference in level, fell forward upon the walk below. Loving helpers were at 
her side instantly only to hear her exclaim, " Oh, Hattie, I have broken my 
hip; send for Dr. Ellis at once." And then the prayer that she might be spared 
to her family. Next door neighbors, the family of Superintendent Grassie, 
rendered prompt assistance and the poor bruised body was tenderly borne into 
the house. Two physicians with a trained nurse soon arrived and a few mo- 
ments later came Dr. Edwin Ellis, "the beloved physician" of mission days. 
As he took the hand of his old-time patient and life-long friend he managed to 
speak, as a physician, in a tone of confidence, warmly sympathetic and reassur- 
ing; but as he felt every nerve of that sensitive body quivei'ing under the 
shock, the heart of the friend was wrung with agony. After all had been done 
that professional skill could suggest and the sufferer made as comfortable as 
possible, Dr. Ellis inquired of the family in a low tone, "How did this hajipen?" 
Before other reply could be made, Mrs. Wheeler spoke up quickly, ''Oh, Doc- 
tor, this is all for the best. It is sent to teach some lesson. Some good will 
come of this." 

Mrs. Wheeler lingered for three weeks, and much more tlian has already 
been written would fail in the attempt to set forth all the revealings of that 
heart in its expressions of love and thoughtfulness toward all who were privi- 
leged to be with her in those last days. To the attending physician and nurse 
the scene was an unusual exhibition of character. In the wanderings of fevered 
delirium her thought was always for others. How it would run out to the 
chihlren and grandchildren, recalling their names and uttering some prayer for 
their welfare; and then she would fancy herself back in her own home imagin- 
ing her family physician was attending her, and speaking of neighbors and 



2(50 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

friends. Her love for little children was expressed in a touching way at this 
time. Three little German children were indulging in childish prattle in the 
yard not far from the window of the sick chamber. The attendant at the bed- 
side did not suppose she noticed the young voices ; but presently she asked who 
they were. The attendant told her, and said that he would go and tell them to 
go home. She quickly replied "Oh no, I love to hear them." 

As the days wore on the inherited vitality of an elastic constitution would, 
at intervals, assert itself in a way to inspire hope, and yet only for a brief time. 
Under date of August 11th, one of the sons writes home: "Our hopes of 
mother's getting better are again under a cloud. She has passed through a 
night of much agony; not continuous or she could not have survived- [Once], 
wdien pain was extreme, she repeated the two familiar lines: 

'Jesus, lover of my soul, 
Let me to thy bosom fly,' 

putting the emphasis on the word 'let.' God's mercies, the kindnesses of 
friends, etc., are the ever recurring themes of her wandering talk ; that is, out- 
side her own family. * But I must tell you of what occurred yesterday in 
the early evening. It seems that in the afternoon, when mother seemed quiet 
and a little rested, Emily told her of the letter she had received from Mrs. Dus- 
tin and how the neighbors wei-e all anxious to hear how she was getting along. 
Well, it made its impression on her mind, ai.d as it began to wander again in the 
early evening, she was back home again with all the old friends and neighbors, 
and it seems thought she was entertaining them at supper in the old home. 
Edwax'd came into the room, — I was already there, — and remarked, 'Mother, 
you look as bright as a dollar.' She replied • Now, Edward, I know I must 
prink up a little,' and began to try to fix her hair. Her smile and look were 
so natural that Edward stooped down and kissed her. She looked up with a 
coy smile and said, ' O, I know wliat you mean ; you are trying to make me 
think I do look well.' And then as Edward sat down in a chair beside me at 
the bedside, she thought we were all at the table, and said in her old sweet 
voice so full of sympathy, " Edward, will you ask the blessing ?" This he did, 
and the blessing was expanded into a fervent petition for the suffering mother. 
When he had finished, she said, "Now turn the coffee, please," and then for 
half an hour or more, how radiant was her face with that 'light that never was 
on sea or land,' as she tliought herself entertaining all her old neighbors. She 
began to greet this one and that one with her old-time warmth. Just then the 
nurse stepped into the room and mother thought it was another old neighbor 
and stretched out her hand with ' I'm so glad to see all my dear old friends 
again. I don't, just for the moment, recall your face, but all my good neigh- 
bors are welcome to my hearth and home.' Then she made an address to her 
neighbors recounting, ' how many good "feasts of the heart we have had to- 
gether and this last seems tlie best of all,' thanking them again and again for 
their many kindnesses to her and telling them how they had helped her along 
the different steps of the pathway of life, and closing with 'l>ut Christ will help 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 261 

us all to take the last stejj into the glad morning land of the new life.' And 
then her heart's love overflowed in prayer for her 'dear neighbors.' She com- 
mended them all to her Saviour in most touching simplicity and heart-felt fer- 
vor. * It was such a spectacle of the soul conquering the pain-racked body. 
She was supremely happy and showed it in every line and feature of her dear 
face. Emily and Hattie stepped into the room just before mother finished and 
not hearing did not quite comprehend. But the nurse told them. 'O,' she 
said, ' I wish you could have heard the sweet prayer your mother made for her 
old neighbors.' 

The day following the writing of this letter was the Sabbath, August 12th. 
The symptoms of final dissolution were marked; a morning and forenoon of 
much evident distress and restlessness of which the physician assured the 
family the sufferer was not conscious to any great degree. The final struggle 
of mortality had set in, reaching its climax in one triumphantly spoken "amen." 
It was the last word of one who had always unhesitatingly accepted the deal- 
ings of a heavenly Father as "yea and amen." As the morning wore toward 
noon, the daughters felt something might be given their mother to ally in some 
measure the expression of distress. The younger got the mother's attention and 
suggested an anodyne. She indicated assent and as soon as it was administered 
smiled back her gratitude, reached out her arms and drew to her lips the face 
of her child for the parting and final expression of a mother's love. And then 
every outward evidence of distress faded, — every muscle at rest, no further re- 
cognition or consciousness of things mortal, only the soft passing of that breath 
God had given. Thus all the hours of that Sabbath afternoon ebbed away and, 
as twilight came on, the peace and stillness of the scene in that chamber seemed 
only emphasized as the tones of the church bell called to evening service : 
" And in these ears till hearing dies. 

One set slow bell will seem to toll 
The passing of the sweetest soul, 

That ever looked with human eyes." 

While the l)ell still tolled and the twilight deepened, that soul passed 

throuorji the "valley of the shadow." And then the quiet dawn of eternal 

day broke over the pain-worn features, transfiguring every line of suffering and 

leaving on the whole face an expression of ineffable sweetness as of one who 

had conquered. 

"Life, we've been long together, 

Through pleasant and through cloudy weather. 
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear : 

Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear : 
Then steal away, give little warning; 

Cliooso thine own time : 
Say not good night, hut in some brighter clime 

Bid me good-morning. 



TRIBUTES. 



MEMORIES OF THE HOME LIFE. 

The early memories of my sister are very sweet to me. From earliest 
childhood, I remember two faces bending over me, filled with love, and tender 
solicitude; one was that of my mother, the other of sister Harriet. She was 
the eldest of a family of seven children, — 1, the youngest; and mother used to 
say her little children had two mothers, for Harriet was always so loving and 
helpful to us all. And how devotedly we loved her in return ! 

I remember Sabbath days, when a sister, three years older than myself, 
and I were kept home from church and Sabbath-school by storm or illness. 
Harriet was always ready to stay with us, when it was possible for her to do 
so, and she would tell us stories from the Bible, or read to us ; and then she 
would tell us how to be like Him, whom not having seen, she loved. In mem- 
ory it is sacred still — the closet where she knelt — and prayed that our hearts 
might be filled with the blessed Spirit, and our young lives guided and con- 
trolled by Him. 

Although I was young when she left us to enter upon her missionary life, 
I remember her work among the poor and needy in our city. She was frail in 
those early days, and was often laid aside for weeks, but as soon as she was 
able to take up her work again, it was done with the same earnestness as before. 
She taught for three or four years, and, after spending all the week In the 
school-room, Saturday found her going from house to house, among the needy, 
and her missionary life really began before she left her girlhood home. In the 
city, there was one street that was her greatest care. It was filled with the 
poor from other lands, and many would have been deteri-ed from going there 
by fear; but, for a time, every week found her among those people, caring for 
the children, crooning over the babies, hushing tlieiii to sleep, or giving help to 
weaiy and sick mothers. When we had servants in the house, she was always 
interested in their welfare, and sought to lead thetn into a spiritual life. 

After she had been from home seves or eight years, one Sabbath just as 
we were going out to church, to the afternjon service (which was always held 
in those days), we met a woman and two children at the door. She had been a 
washerwoman in the family years before. She asked, "Will you tell me where 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 268 

I can find Miss Harriet's church? I promised her before she went away I 
would sometime go to her church and I have never been." We directed her to 
Appleton-street church, with which sister was so closely identified. She became 
interested in the service, and some one became interested in her. She took her 
children to the Sabbath school and after a few months united with the church 
herself in sjiite of opposition and persecution, for her life was imperiled, her 
Bible was stolen from her room, and she was publicly cursed, and excommuni- 
cated fx'om the Catholic church. How many seeds of goodness sown in human 
hearts by our sister's loving thought, have ripened and born fruit to the honor of 
the Master will never be known, until the harvest time, when the secrets of all 
hearts shall be revealed. 

But the time came when she was to go from us. The subject of missions 
lay very near her heart, and the great desire of her life was to go into the 
wider field of the world. We all knew her wishes, but their fulfilment seemed 
a long way oif until Mr. Wheeler came so often from the seminary at An- 
dover only ten miles distant. Then we realized that her desires were soon 
to be gratified. It was almost hard for my sister Hannah and me to love him, 
for his gain would be such a loss to us. 

I remember so well that wedding day. A few intimate friends and the 
members of our own family were all that were present, and every one was 
keeping up a semblance of cheerfulness, but the shadow of departure would 
not be dispelled. She looked so sweet and lovely in her simple wedding attire, 
as she stood beside the tall handsome student, just from his studies, who was to 
lead her away from us. I watched every expression of her face with my poor 
little heart almost breaking, but when the minister bade them "join hands" it 
was too much for me, and a great sob broke the stillness of the room, but the 
dear sister sti"uggled hard to keep her voice from faltering and to repress the 
tears that lay so near the surface. 

AVell, the wedding was over, and they left us for a few weeks of visiting 
with friends, after which they returned and made ready for their final depart- 
ure. In these days of rapid and easy transit it would seem a light thing to 
ti'avel from Massachusetts to Wisconsin, but it was not so then. One could u-o 
to India now with far less discomfort, than to travel the thousand miles they 
were undertaking. 

But the (lay of parting came; breakfast was almost untas!ed. l)ut it was over. 
Trunks and boxes were packed, waiting to be taken away, and we had all 
gathered in the parlor for the morning prayer. I can not i-ecall the Scripture 
my father read, but I shall never forget the hymn we sang or tried to sing. "Ye 
Christian heroes go, proclaim." I seldom hear it now that it does not take me 
l)ack to that morning with its tearful gathering, so long ago. It was a sad 
parting, and as the sound of the wheels that were bearing tliem away was lost 
in the distance, we returned to the house, each heart burdened with gi-ief. How 
anxiously we watched for letters fi-om her, and they came as often as the slow 
mails could bring them. She was happy in her new life, hopeful for the future 



264 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

and eager to commence her chosen work, only saddened by the thought of those 
she had left. There were always sweet words for the little ones, and loving 
counsel for us. We know something of the hardships and privations she en- 
dured, but we must add to them, home-sickness, more easily experienced than 
described. She said little about it, but in one of her letters to mother, she 
writes : " Send the children away from home, that they may become accustomed 
to being absent from the family circle before they leave it and suffer as I have 
done." But all was cheerfully borne for the love of Him whose life she sought 
to represent. She had her faults as we all have, but in my memory of her 
sweet home life there were none. 

When I was asked to give some incidents in her early life, I was glad to 
pay a loving tribute to one so dear to me. The history of these later years is 
known to you all. With tears we have laid her down to rest and covered her 
grave with flowers. They will fade, but the memory in our hearts can never 
die. With her, "it is well." 

GONE HOME. 

Dear form so still, laid away from our sight, 

Dear lips to us closed evermore, 
Dear hands,— they have ceased their service of love, 

Weary feet, they have entered heaven's door. 
They shall go no more out to tread the worn path 

Of the world with its labor and strife ; 
They shall walk all unwearied the pavement of gold. 

And the strand of the "river of life." 
I can see her now as at eventide. 

She sat with God's book in her hand, 
Reading of Him she had chosen her Guide, 

And the home in the better land. 
The far away look in lier eyes I can see. 

As she pondered the old lessons o'er. 
And silently offered the prayer of her heart 

That she might love her Saviour yet more. 
But our hearts, how they ache witli the thought that no more 

We shall hear the loved voice ; and we weep. 
Not for her who has gone, but for those who remain 

In tears the life vigil to keep. 
But we pause mid our tears, would we call her back, 

Though her lips are silent and cold ; 
And we miss the kind word and loving caress 

And remember life's story is told? 
Would we call back from her Father's side 

To battle with sorrow and sin? 
To tread the life path with its light and shade! 

To be tempted without and within ! 

" Not my will." dear Jesus, " but thine," we ask. 
Yet we can not from heart depths say this. 
Except on the cloud by our faith we can read: 
"The dear Lord doeth nothing amiss." 

O teach us, dear Father, this lesson of trust. 

And may we forever abide 
In the " secret place " overshadowed by Thee 
Who hast promised Thy cliildren to hide. 
There where folded liands tell of work that's all done, 
(The word of the Lord standetli sure). 
" If I go, I will come and receive you myself," 
No more cross, but the crown, evermore. 

Mrs. C. F. Hardy, 

Beloit, Wisconsin^ September ISth 1894. 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 265 



TKIBUTE OF MRS. AUGUSTA S. KENNEDY. 



When we who know her so well looked at her frail physique, it seemed 
as if she must have been crushed beneath her load, but love and faith buoyed 
up her flagging health and carried her on. For the last few months, however, 
she has been very feeble and her one thought has been that she must have Lake 
Superior air or die. 

How hard and mysterious it seems to us that she should have left her 
home and come here to meet her fate. Only two days before she had gone 
with a party to the christening of a steamer, and seemed as happy and delighted 
as any of the throng. Little did we think that it was to be her last time with 
us. Mercifully are the times and seasons hidden from our eyes. An alarm of 
fire being sounded, she rushed out in the quick way so natural to her but missed 
her footing and fell, to be picked up bruised and broken. For three long weeks 
she suffered physical torture, but whenever a gleam of consciousness shone upon 
her she lamented that she must be a trouble to others, entirely forgetting her- 
self. 

Attended by her devoted children she lay till Sunday night, August 12th, 
when, just as the gates of sunset shut out the dying day, the golden portals be- 
yond swung open and our beloved friend passed through. Life's long, weary 
day ended. She bade good-night to the world, to wake in the arms of Him 
whose loving mercies she had so long trusted, and whom she had so faithfully 
served. 

Truly a mother in Israel has fallen. Never till the books are made up at 
the end of time will she know of all good she has done. 

The years of utter self-abnegation which have been hers are something 
wonderful when viewed in the light of these days when so much worldliness in- 
fuses itself into the best efforts. 

From the east and the west, from the north and the south, will they rise 
up and call her blessed. 

None were too lowly or too poor for her kind ministration. She did not 
give money alone but the pressure of the hand, the comforting word and the 
sympathetic tear which told so eloquently the burden was shared by her. After 
all, perhaps she would have chosen to die here, so near the place where her 
heart has always been. And in a conversation with her before the delirium 



266 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. • 

came upon her she said to me, "It has always been my prayer that Dr. Ellis 
might be with me in my last sickness," and thus it came about. 

When asked to write this notice I accepted the trust gladly as the last trib- 
ute I could pay to a loving friend, but my heart fails me when I think how 
feeble is my best effort to do justice to her memory. 

Her words and deeds are her best monument. Her life was a constant 
praise-service and her death comes like the benediction that follows after prayer. 
In our sorrow for our bereavement let us remember 
"The strife is o'er, the battle done. 
The victory of life is won. 
The song of tfiumph is begun." 

Mrs. Augusta S. Kennedy. 



LETTER AND POEM OF REV. H. G. McARTHUR. 



Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, 
AuGu.sT 21sT, 1894. 
Miss Hattie Wheeler: 

Dear and Bereaved Friend : We learned with sorrow of the sore 
accident which befell your mother; and now, later, with deeper sorrow, of her 
death. It is difficult for us to realize that such is the fact, — that your mother 
and our much esteemed friend has passed into the shadow so impenetrable to 
human vision. 

But more and more as we come to realize that she is gone, may we rise 
into that sweet, living faith which will enable us to feel that she has only, passed 
from the lower to the higher; and that the same true and loving spirit is still 
moving on with a growing sanctified purpose and impulse toward that which is 
diviner and more blessed. 

Mrs. McArthur joins me in expressions of heart sympathy to all the family 
in this, your great bereavement. And our thought and our prayer is that you 
all may be supported and comforted by Him who deems it best to chasten his 
children. 

Very cordially yours, 

H. G. McArthur. 
IN memoriam. 

A mother in Israel, esfeemed and beloved. 

Ever gracing the faith in which she moved ; 

So kind and so true, so pure and so good ; 
So thoughtful and loving in motherhood ; 

So genuine her devotion to truth. 

So loyal to Grod from earliest youth ; 



MRS HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 267 

With a Christly spirit within her breast 

So eager to serve to tlie very last. 
Ready to sacrifice comfort and ease 

The needy to help, the Master to please ;— 
The mother, the saint and the trusted friend,— 

Alas! has reached earth's pilgrimage end. 
But 'mid flowing tears we may well rejoice, 

Thougli gone from our sight, though hushed be her voice. 
For in the Beyond what an infinite gain, 

What a deep soul-peace, what spiritual reign 
To the faithful one whose whole life below 

Seemed bathed with the light of a heavenly glow! ^ 
' In a double sense this is a memorial of the dead. Mr. McArthur passed to the world 
above on the 20th of February, 1895. 



LETTER OF MARY WARREN ENGLLSH. 



Red Lake Reserve, [Minnesota,] 
November 4th, 1894. 
My Dear Hattie: Your dear letter so full of the sad tidings of 
your sainted mother's death, reached me a few days since, and also the photo- 
graphs; — and many thanks for the same. I said sad tidings, so it was to me, 
as I realized there will be no more meetings on earth between us, but oh what 
gain to her, — blessed rest now. The burden and worries of this life all left be- 
hind, which she has borne so long and alone, yet not alone — her God ''was her 
very strength and refuge." 

That is an excellent likeness of your mother, my eyes filled with tears as I 
gazed on that dear, sweet old face, for it brought to mind so many, many scenes 
of my earliest days, and of my girlhood when under her kind and motherly 
care. 

My first recollection of your father and mother dates from the very first 
hour they landed on La Pointe islaml. I was a little girl not five years old, 
and the first meeting happened in this way, (it seems like a dream to me now 
as I think of it but it is very vivid). 

My brother William had been away to school and he was expected to re- 
turn home on that same vessel which brought your parents to the island. My 
own parents were both away from home at the time and I was staying with my 
aunt Julia Defoe. As soon as the vessel landed, my aunt and myself started to 
find my brother, and we met him and your father and mother and Miss Abby 
Spooner walking up the sandy beach on their way from the "Old Company's 
Wharf" to the mission-house at "Middle Fort," as it was then called. 

My brother knew us and after giving us a hearty greeting he turned 
around and introduced us to his companions, who also greeted us in a most 



26S IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

friendly and kindly manner. I remember your mother more particularly and I 
thought *' What a lovely lady ! Such bright eyes, rosy cheeks, and curling hair 
each side of her face." And your father — I can well recall just how he ap- 
peared. His kindly voice as he said, "And this is little Mary," I shall never 
forget. 

I have often thought that it was their pleasant and friendly ways and 
manners that made such a lasting impression even on the mind of a child and 
which has never faded away during the many long years that intervened since 
that hour, and it is just this very same cordial and friendly feeling they both 
possessed and exercised toward all with whom they came in contact in 
after years that made everybody their friend, and it is this which drew the 
Indians around them from the very first hour they came amongst them bearing 
the "glad tidings of peace" and kept them in friendship firm, steadfast to the 
very last hour that they parted from them twenty-five years afterward. 

This was the true missionary spirit, full of good feeling and sympathy 
toward all with whom they had to do. I have never met their equal since, 
though I have lived in the Indian country all my life and have met many 
teachers in this midst but no one like them, not one. 

That was a wonderful covenant of November 25th, 1841, and how well it 
has been kept even to the close of life. I have read it over several times and 
have been impressed by its purity and perfect faith. It has been a real 
lesson to me and it is my most earnest prayer that I may remain true and faith- 
ful to my profession, even like these dear departed friends whom God raised up 
for me, in years after, when I was left homeless, fatherless and motherless, and 
through their faithful teachings of Christian principles and with God's help I 
have been enabled to keep the faith, even in the most trying scenes and trials 
of later years. 

Mary Warren English. 



LETTER OF MRS. M. E. VAUGHN. 



Ashland, Wisconsin, 
Septembkr 28th, 1894. 
My Dear Miss Wheeler : Nothing could have made me happier than 
your kind letter with the accompanying pictures and the covenant. How many 
pleasant associations these dear faces recall, — the happiest of my life. You 
can never, unless placed in similar circumstances, realize what your dear mother 
was to us strangers, who came to Lake Superior in those early years. I liave 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 269 

often wondered how she, coming without any such greeting, ever endured 
the loneliness of the first few years. The dear Lord was very good to her to 
give her not only strength and patience for her own cares, but enough to spare 
for others. She was, to my mind, the best example of a perfect woman I ever 
saw, — and I am so thankful to you for sending me the photograjjhs. 

(Mrs.) M. E. Vaughn. 



LETTER OF PROFESSOR H. M. WHITNEY. 



Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, 
August 27th, 1894. 
My Dear Eugene: I have just heard from my home of the death 
and burial of your honored and beloved mother, and, though far away, I will 
not wait to get home in order to bear my testimony to her worth. The testi- 
mony is all one way, as you had ample occasion to find out even before she was 
taken away. 

You were all comparatively new in Beloit when we came there to live 
(in 1871), and it took me a good while to find you all out and to begin upon 
that substantial friendship that my wife and I so much rejoice in now. But 
your mother was alert with the kind word and deed toward us as well as to- 
ward others. And she always wanted the best things. Her memory is blessed. 
I never knew your father, but I shall always cherish my recollections of your 
mother. Give my warm sympathy, and indeed I may well say congratulations, 
to all your family circle. When the saints are gathered in fulness of years, it 
is a matter for joy that triumphs over grief. 

Sincerely your friend, 

H. M. Whitney. 



LETTER OF MRS. ANNA S. R()(}ERS. 



My Dear Miss Hattie: Ever since the sad news of your dear 
mother's death reached me, I have been wanting to tell you, how much I sym- 
pathize with you and your family in your great sorrow. I can indeed sympa- 



270 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

thize with you, for I know the terrible sense of loneliness that comes from los- 
ing a dear parent. But what a comfort it is that these separations are only for 
a season, and what a help in our grief the assurance of the unspeakable gain to 
our dear ones. Though so far away from Beloit, I shall always cherish the 
deepest affection for my friends there; and your mother, the mother of "our 
neighborhood," always had a very warm place in my heart. Her loss comes to 
me very deeply. She was one of those women who are a help and inspiration 
to all about them, — always doing good, always a kind word for every one. 
And her noble Christian character, — beautiful example for us all. 

Anna S. Rogers. 



LETTER OF DR. J. E. ROY. 



American Missionary Association, 
Bible House, New York City. 

Western Dlstrict. 
District Secretary: 
Rev. J. E. Roy, 
• Office, 151 Washington Street. 

Chicago, Illinois, 
August 22nd, 1894. 
Rev. E. p. Wheeler, 

Ashland, Wisconsin: 

Dear Brother : On the same day I received " The Evangel " with 
the account of your mother's accident, and the Beloit ''Free Press" with a copy 
of the long article from the Ashland daily press, reporting the death and the 
useful life. The sad demise reminds me of the first time I saw your mother 
when I went to Beloit to secure yourself for Colorado. At that time she im- 
pressed me with the geniality and the breadth of her character, all of which 
was confirmed when I saw her, the one only other time, at the old mission. It 
seems sad that one who had come up to the years of three score and eighteen, 
should then be taken away by what we call an accident. What an inspiration 
has that name, Harriet Newell, been to the missionary cause these eighty years ! 
Your family have been wonderfully blessed in that she has been preserved to 
you so long after the taking away of your father. Such a life written out 
would be a romance of unusual thrill, and-all of it is in the mind of your boys 
more indelibly imprinted than if it were in a book. It will always be a com- 
fort to me that my first paper,' — read at the old mission, — upon "The Outside 
Influence of the Indian Missionaries " was a comfort to her. 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 271 

I see by "The Evangel" that you are now to be the principal of the 
academy. I hope that you may yet realize your largest aspiration in that 
institution. 

Sincerely yours, 

J. E. Roy. 



LETTER OF MRS. MARY H. HULL. 



Armour Mission, 

CORNKR OF 33rd StREET AND ArMOUR AvENUE, 

Chicago, Illinois. 

August 30th, 1894. 
How much it brings up to me to read of your dear mother's life and 
death, which is only life anew! Please let me share with others the sorrow at 
her loss. * * It is gain to her How sad, though, must have been her 
pain and yours at the last. But her life was so full of heroism with an element 
of tragedy in it, it seems but a part of the heroic to have it go out in such a 
way. Grod knows whom to trust. 

Mary H. Hull. 



A NEIGHBOR'S MESSAGE. 



A letter, highly appreciated by the family, is one received, during Mrs. 
Wheeler's illness, from Miss H. S. Martindale of Beloit: 

649 Church Street, Beloit. 
My Dear Hattie : You don't know how many thoughts ai-e going out 
to Ashland, and how many prayers are rising to Heaven from our dear church, 
as we remember your afflicted family. We do not love to have you so far 
away, we do not love to be told that we can not see the dear mother again, 
whose face always reflected so much of the radiance of heaven. We ought to 
rejoice that the earthly labor and discipline are so nearly over, but it seems 
as if we could spare no more of our Saints. Our pastor was with us again 
yesterday and he did not forget those who ai'e so painfully missing. Your 



272 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

family pew is too suggestive of life's sad changes. By and by we will try 
to look upward along the radiant pathway, and rejoice in the clear vision 
of blessedness wrought out of so many years of patient and cheerful endur- 
ance of the Father's good pleasure; but now, while the dear one lingers, we 
must " hope against hope " and jH'ay to keep her a little longer if she can 
live comfortably. We are grateful that so many of her children can minister 
to her comfort and be to her such a consolation in their loving fidelity. And 
we are grateful for the cooler weather rendering a sick bed so much more en- 
durable. It has been hard for even the well to endure. 

I shall always think of your mother as when I saw her last, in such 
cheery circumstances. * * * * jf g}^g ^i{\\ lives and can 

think of us, please assure her of our most loving sympathy, and our hope of 
meeting her again in our one Home. 

With love to all the family from Mrs. Hill and myself. 

H. S. Martindale. 



FROM A FRIEND OF HER LAST YEARS. 



When one has been lifted up by the hallelujah chorus of the "Messiah," 
he is likely to feel, when he hears the remaining part of the oratorio, that it is 
but a rhythmic descent to the plane of ordinary emotion. From a "crowded 
hour of glorious life" on the Rigi-Kulni or even on the majestic tribune of one 
of the innumerable basilicas which the Creator's hand built in the ancient 
shores of the upper Mississippi, it is with hesitation and reluctance that we turn 
again to the world and its work. After the "amen" that fell from the lips to 
become so soon silent forever there seems, at first, place for nothing but tears 
and mournful memories. But no one could remember Mrs. Wheeler without 
being recalled to duty, and so, from the soft turf of the God's-acre where tender 
hands laid away her covering of flesh, we go to put our liands once more to 
plow or pen. 

To me, who can not abide words that have not been weighed in the scale 
of truth, the tributes of Mrs. Wheeler's friends seem to set forth what she 
really was. My intimate acquaintance with her began when I sought informa- 
tion that she could give better than any other then among the living. Telling 
the story in her own way, she almost confused me at first with her vivid setting 
forth of the wrong done to the WiscoHSin Ojibways in the attempt to make 
them give up their ancestral homes and remove to a dangerous nearness to their 
persistent and ferocious enemies, the Sioux. But how tender was her con- 
science, and how careful she was lest she should say something that was unjust: 



MRS. HARRIET WOOD WHEELER. 273 

Nor was her feeling that worse than weak sentimentality that practically 
ignores the difference between right and wrong. She distinguished between 
one who was merely misled and those who, if only a proposed measure offered 
to themselves a promise of gain, did not care much, if at all, whether, to the 
Indians, it would bring evil or good. Clearness of moral vision was a charac- 
teristic of Mrs. Wheeler. Her eye was single, the body of her activities and 
interest full of light. The poor, petty act of Bishop Baraga in removing chil- 
dren from the best school within their reach, because all the pupils were taught 
to pray the Lord's prayer together, did not prevent Mrs. Wheeler, — thouo-h it 
was her own school from which the children were withdrawn, — from recoo-niz- 
ing the man's real worth and excellence. But I doubt that she would have 
a^n-eed with the bishop's remark, as repeated by Mr. Parton, when, speakino- of 
the Ojibways, he said "I make pretty good Christians of some of them. But 
mew? — no, it is impossible." Indeed. I don't believe that Mrs. Wheeler could 
think of any one, whether Indian or of any other race, as being a Christian 
witlijut true manliness or its corresponding quality in woman. 

The liardships and trials of missionary life were not favorite themes with 
Mrs. Wheeler. She was never the heroine of any narrative of her own. But 
interested questions would recall the oppressive sense of loneliness and isolation 
that fell upon the mission families as they watched the last boat of the season 
glide down the vast curve of the world that is measured by the ocean-like expanse 
of Lake Superior. There was plenty of food to be sure, but how limited in 
variety I How children and adults as well. were. — as the Scotch say. — " scun- 
nered" with fresh fish! The time was when, in the spring, the seed potatoes 
must be so cut as to yield a portion for food as well as the parts needed for 
planting. There were hours that seemed dark. One such was when the hus- 
band, already worn with the disease that ended his life, had broken his wrist, 
and the eldest son was brought home, from an attempted journey to St. Paul, 
injured in the knee and lame because of hurt received in the falling of a bough 
as he was cutting wood for the evening camp-fire. This was one of the dark 
hours that come before the dawn, and then it was that father and son wrought 
together to make the model of the "Eclipse" windmill. By his successful in- 
vention the father provided for the needs of the family that he was so soon 
thereafter called to leave. The success of the business which he established 
made Mrs. Wheeler both glad and grateful. But more glad and grateful was 
she that he had won the hearts of the people to whom he gave the best of his 
life; that he loved righteousness, hated iniquity and fought it with the persist- 
ence of a Calvinist and the courage of a soldier. 

Let no one be displeased if we seem to have passed in our narrative from 
the story of the wife to that of tlie husband. She would have wished it so. 

Happiest of my memories of Mrs. Wheeler, — and all are pleasant, — ^^is that 
of those stirring days at La Pointe and Ashland when the dear mother rejoiced 
not only over what had been accomplished in the past but yet more over what 
she believed would be done in years to come. There and then the happy little 



■274 L\ rXNAMEl) WISCONSIN. 

Puritan became our uncrowned queen I 

At that time there had been taken from the quarries at Prentice, on the 
rock-bound western shore of the beautiful Chequamegon, a huge monolith de- 
signed for the Columbian Exhibition. This shaft of stone surpasses in size the 
largest of Egypt's famed obelisks. But hopes were disappointed. Where it 
lay when the quariymen had moved it from its ancient bed there it lies yet. It 
may never point toward the sky. It was not needed as a memorial of the ex- 
hibition. No more fitting use could be made of this obelisk of iron-reddened 
sandstone than to place it erect engraven with the names of Ayer, Hall, 
Wheeler, — husbands and wives, — and of those who labored with them. But 
these men and women have a better memorial than one of stone. In the lives 
and love of those, both in heaven and on earth, whom they served, ami "in 
Gods still memory folded deep" is their record b'>th of deed and name. 



It is an easy transition from a memorial of Mrs. Wheeler to a letter by 
her friend and associate Mrs. E. T. Ayer, one of the few survivors of that 
heroic mission band of half a century ago. It is fitting that bath these narra- 
tives appear in the story of ''Unnamed Wisconsin." For it was not until a 
comparatively late time that the people dwelling there thought of the Lake Su- 
perior region as really belonging to Wisconsin. Long after the Territory was 
organized they dated their letters at ''La Pointe, Lake Superior." 

Mrs. Ayer's letter is written with the delicacy and firmness of hand of a 
school-girl. An answer has as yet brought no reply but, so far as I know, the 
good lady is still among the living : 

Belle Prairie, January 26th, 1891. 
Rev. J. N. Davidson: 

Yours of the 17th inst. was duly received. I have to say that you sent to 
a dry source for anything like dates of a dai/ concerning the early missions in 
Wisconsin. We always kept dates of important occurences in our journals, 
which were quite voluminous (particularly my husbands) but when we left Red 
Lake, our last station among the Ojibwas, they were accidentally burned. In 
some cases I am not able to tell, without some considerjvble thought, even the 
yeai', in which certain events occurred. 

Now in my 89th year, I do not dwell much on the past, nor have I for 
years. Forgetting the things that are bdiind, I am pressing forward to those 
that are before — learning more fully how we are saved by Jesus Christ; and I 
find that it is not by His "paying all the debt we owe," no, no. His work was 
far greater, and far more necessary than this, and in it I rejoice. 



f^REDERIC AYER. 27.", 

I hope you may be successful in your undertaking. My best wishes at- 
tend you. 

Elizabeth Taylor Ayer. 



Frederic Ayer was born in 1803, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, but from 
two years old he lived in central New York, where his father was for many 
years a home missionary. He, too, was set apart by his parents for the min- 
istry, but his health was not sufficient to carry him through his necessary 
studies and he took a clerkship in a bookstore ia Utica. In 1829 the Indian 
mission at Mackinaw needed a helper, and, hearing of Mr. Ayer, they were so 
sure that he was the man tor them, that one of the missionaries went to Utica 
in person and persuaded him tj leave his by>siness and come to their relief. 
Bit his labors in school, with a class of small boys out of school in addition, 
were too much, and, as he was an independent worker in 1830, he went up Lake 
Superior with the fur traders, wintered with Mr. Warren at La Pointe, taught 
Mr. Warren's children and the children of his employers, and studied the 
Ojibwa language. In 1831 missionaries were sent out by the American Board 
to La Pointe, and Mr. Ayer wintered there the second time, studying and teach- 
ing. The next winter he went on farther, to Sandy Lake. Here he finished 
an Ojibwa spe'ling-book and started off on foot with an experienced guide for 
Mackinaw early in the spring. He was bound for Utica to get his book 
printed early enough to go up Lake Superior with the traders. 

This year, 1833, Mr. Ayer put himself under the direction of the A. B. 
C. F. M., and was sent to I'^ellow Lake. During his third year there, he was 
invited by another band to a more promising field of labor, and was directed 
to go there. The mission family there consisted of Mr. Ayer and wife, John 
L. Seymour, and Miss Sablna Stevens. Miss Crooks, who jvas there in the be- 
ginning, had married Rev. W. T. Boutwell, and had gone to Leech Lake. 
The mission at Pokeguma, on Snake River, was very prosperous for a few 
years, but in 1840 the Sioux came there to avenge some real or supposed 
wrongs, and the Indians were scattered and dared not return. Mr. Ayer after- 
wards spent a few years at Red Lake, and in the winter of '48-9 settled on the 
borders of the newly-purchased Territory [of Minnesota] and, in due time, 
opened a school there for the more promising children in different parts of the 
Indian country. This school was kept up for several years and when Belle 
Prairie was sufficiently settled to have an organization they joined with us. We 
worked together till the commencement of the civil war. 

Mr. Ayer was a "man of his word," therefore he was trusted. When 
living on the St. Croix, an Indian came in one evening, and after sitting a while 
in silence, he said. '' I did not sleep much last night, I was thinking hard, and 
puzzled. I never saw a man, before you, but what had two tongues," and 
crossing his two fore-fingers held them up as an explanation. " I notice yoic 
have but one tongue, — that is the reason the Indians like you." Wherever Mr. 



27G IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

Ayer lived, this trait of character was noticeable. In 1865, after the close of 
the civil war, he went South to labor among the freedmen, and in building two 
large houses and remodeling another of still greater dimensions for a church, 
furnishing material and hiring laborers, he had much to do with the business 
men of the city, and this trait of character was greatly to his advantage. He 
gained many warm friends, even among the rebels. 

Yours in Christian bonds, 

E. T. Ayek. 



Mr. Ayer's biography — as yet written only in fragments. — unites closely 
the history of Wisconsin and of Minnesota. A school that he established was 
probably the first within the limits of the last named state. He binds together 
also the nari'ative of the work, among the Ojibways, both of the American 
Board and the American Missionary Association. 

Of those who labored with him nearly all have passed away. S. G. Wiight 
is left at Oberlin, Ohio, and Alonzo Barnard at Benzonia, Michigan. Mr. 
Barnard was compelled to leave St. Joseph (Walhalla), North Dakota, in 1855. 
He removed to the Lake Winnipeg region where he did missionary work among 
the Indians until 1863, when he removed to his present home. 

Of Rev. Cutting Marsh, Mrs. R. M. Hutton, wife of Pi-ofessor A. J. Hut- 
ton of the Whitewater normal school writes, under date of 1895, March 4th: 
" Dr. Marsh was our pastor when I was a child. A more thoroughly conse- 
crated man never lived." A brief sketch of his life is furnished by his daugh- 
ter, Miss Sarah E. Marsli, of Chicago: 

Cutting Marsh was born July 20th, 1800, in the town of Danville, Ver- 
mont, and the eai'ly years of his boyhood were spent on his father's farm. He 
graduated from Dartmouth college in 1826, and from the seminary at And- 
over in 1829. 

In the fall of that same year, he came west, expecting to go to Green Bay 
to labor among the Indians for a year, but on reaching Detroit, he found that 
the last boat up the lakes for the season had left two months before his arrival. 
Accordingly, he went to Maumee, where there was a missionary station among 
the Ottawas, and spent the winter. In the spring he went to Green Bay, and 
from there to the station among the Stockbridges, about twenty miles up the 
river. 

When the Indians moved to Stockbridge, he went with them and stayed 
until the Amei'ican Board discontinued its work anung them in 1848. 

In 1837, he was married at Green Bay to Miss Eunice Osmer, a lady who 
had been for twelve years a teacher in the mission school at Mackinaw. 

After the mission at Stockbridge was broken up, Mr. Marsh moved to 
Green Bay, and lived there three years, and there it was that he was employed 
by the Home Missionary society to travel as an itinerant missionary, looking up 
church members, organizing them into churclies, and starting Sun'lay-schools. 



CORRECTIONS. 277 

In the year 1851, he moved to Waupaca, situated on an Indian reserva- 
tion, the land of which had just been opened for settlement. The country was 
new, and for several years he had appointments for preaching at diiferent 
places every Sunday in the month, some of these being twenty miles from the 
home. His wife, his wise and faithful helper, went to her heavenly home in 
1855. And, worn with his many labors and hardships, he fell asleep in the 
morning of the Fourth of July, in 1873. 



Of Chauncey (not Sherman) Hall, the coadjutor of Mr. Marsh, the novel- 
ist "Ida Glenwood" (Mrs. C M. R. Gorton of Fenton, Michigan), writing 
under date of 1893, March 20th, said: "I boarded with him and family in 
Utica, New York. * * He was a colporteur. Perhaps you do not 

know that I am blind, and it was while attending to my eyes at the oculist's 
that I became acquainted with himself and family. * * j i-eceived 

the foundation of "The Fatal Secret" [one of her books] from Messrs. Hall and 
Ferry (the founder of the Mackinac school as you probably know), while Mr. 
Ferry was visiting Mr. Hall and family." Mi's. Gorton does not give the date 
of Mr. Hall's death but intimates that it occurred not " many months " after 
1876. "His wife and daughter preceded him to the other world. Jennie was 
a sweet girl, and father and child were tender lovei's." 



The unusual length of time that this book has been in press has brought 
somewhat of correction and more of information. Part of this material was 
utilized even after the manuscript was in the printer's hands. Some other 
things I subjoin : 

To the account given of Radisson and Groseilliers it should be added that, 
if Dr. Neill is right, they were of Huguenot origin. If so, as I presume was 
the case, we have another reason for their preferring to serve the English 
government rather than the French king, — especially as that king was Louis 
XIV. Dragonades and the disposition that made them were not likely to win 
the loyalty of men whom the woods had made free. 

But early and extended as were the "voyages" of Radisson, I should not 
now speak of him and Groseilliers as probably the discoverers of Lake Superior. 



27S IN UNXAMEI) WISCOXSIN. 

But they were among its earliest explorers. And so great, for many reasons, 
is the honor due them that, if Wisconsin should have, in one of the two niches 
assigned lier in the old representatives' hall of our national capitol, the statue 
of any man of the seventeenth century, i the form should be that of Radisson, 
the self-reliant explorer, rather than that of Marquette, one of that type of 
ecclesiastics who think as they are told and do as they are bidden. 

If any French missionary could rightly occupy the place of honor given 
by an ignorant legislature to Marquette, — who, moreover, belongs in much 
less degree to the history of the Wisconsin region than to that of a small part 
of what is now Michigan, — no one has a better claim than the faithful Menard. 



Since the first part of this book was in type the view therein set forth of 
the Franco-British wars that followed the accession of William and Mary has 
been published to the world by one of the most eminent of American historians, 
Professor John Fiske. It may be permitted me to say that my conclusions 
were reached independently, so far as I can remember, of suggestion from any 
one. 

It would be absurd to blame the few civilized (or half-civilized) inhabitants 
of the "parish of Green Bay,"^ as this region was sometimes called, for the 
part that they took in the wars aforesaid. At the same time it is ignorance not 
to know that they fought and the Canadian clergy prayed against the movement 
whose issue was the founding of our nation. It was the democracy of Calvin- 
ism and not the aristocracy of Roman Catholicism and of Episcopacy that made 
the Americans not only a free people, — that was accomplished before our Rev- 
olution, — but also a nation separate from the mother country. That other vig- 
orous form of Puritanism that is now most numerously represented in the great 
and patriotic Methodist Episcopal church ^ had, in America, during the war of 
separation, scarcely an existence. 



It may seem that disproportionate space has been given to the narrative 
concerning the Stockbridge Indians. Certainly one would think so if he judged 
merely from the present insignificance and dej^lorable condition of the tribe. 
But that, as a people, they were once entitled to greater consideration than they 
are now, and actually i-eceived it, has been, I think, clearly shown. And since 
the chapters that give account of them were in print, I have found part of the 
record that they made during the Revolution in volume II. of Peter Force's 
reprint of American archives; — a "speech delivered by Captain Solomon 
Unhaunauwaunmet,** Chief Sachem of [the] Moheakumnut Tribe of Indians 
residing at Stockbridge, on the 11th day j>f April, 1775, after sitting in Council 

» Which I, for one, do not believe. 

2 " A parish " sometimes spoken of as if it extended as far northward as Lake Athabasca. 

3 As every one knows, Methodism is essentially Puritanic ; and, in spite of the logomacliy 
of theologians, really Calvinistic. 

4 See page 112. 



(X:)RRECTI()NS. 279 

two days, being an answer to a Message sent them by the Congress."^ 

"South Kaukauna" is a bettei- name than '' Statesburg." But the latter, 
for an Indian settlement, is certainly suggestive. Under date of 10th August, 
1894, Dr. (and Mayor) Tanner of South Kaukauna, wrote: 

"I am unable to find any one here who knows anything about the rea- 
son for the name Statesburg. They know it was called that, but the naming was 
too early for them." 

He adds : " I took a trip out to the cemetery and I am sure I have a cor- 
rect copy of the inscription, whicli I enclose."- 

"The faithful memory " sjjoken of on page 140 is that of Sabra Howes 
Adams, now the wife of Rev. H. H. Benson of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. 

Of note 2, page 3, Rev. E. P. Wheeler says: 

"Whatever may have been the case in 1671, the Ojibways now use the 
term Nadouessi as applying only to the Iroquois and the Hurons, not to the 
Sioux. 

"On page 166 you spell the name of Moose Tail, Moo-zoo-jeele. ^ It 
should be Mo-zo-geede."'* 

Hennepin's statement as given in note 2, page 15 becomes somewhat less 
absurd when it is known that it was made in regard to the falls of Niagai'a, 
not those of St. Anthony. 

To the note on page 149, it may be added that the "Presbyterian mission- 
school" was one established and supported by the American Board. 

The note on page 151 should be corrected by the statement that Mrs. M. 
W. English is employed in the government school at Red Lake, and not in the 
Episcopal mission. 

An error in note 2, page 234 is corrected in the account of Mr. Ayer's life. 

Other annoying errors are these: "Country," for "county," line 3, note 1, 
page 37 ; "advice" for "avarice," page 64, line 25; "stoxy" for "tory" in note 
2, page 181; the omission of ''not" before "as keen" on page 187, line 10; 
"elapsed" for "lapsed," note 1, page 204; "or" for "of" on page 208, line 25. 

On page 222 " Kendall " instead of " Kimball " is given as Dr. Pearsons's 
middle name, and on page 225 the blank before Mr. West's name should be 
filled with "Edward." 

It may be added that Mr. West still lives, has been, since 1852, a resident 
of A})pleton and believes that he was the first man to teach in Wisconsin 

• See page 95. 

- In Memory of 

REV. JErtSE MINER. 

Born Sept. 29, 1781. 

Commenced the Moheakhmuk 

Mission at this place, 

June 20, 1828. 

Died March 22, 182!), 

Aged 47. 

" and lio sliall assemble the outcasts of Israel." 

ISA. 11, 12, 

3 I followed the spellinp: of the author from whom I made the quotation. 

4 Accurate, iion cauda sod anus. 



2S0 IN UNNAMED WISCONSIN. 

under a regularly organized school-board. This was in the winter of '36-37. 
For this school a frame building was erected in "Kilbourntown." The boys and 
girls of to-day will think it strange that among his duties was the making of 
goose-quill pens. On this last subject ex-Judge J. T. Mills, now of Manitowoc, 
says of his life in the family of Colonel Zachary Taylor, while at Prairie du 
Chien: ''I did some of his writing, and there I first saw a steel pen and wrote 
with it." 

Principal E. P. Wheeler of Ashland thinks that Cadeau came to the Lake 
Supei'ior region at a much later date than 1671 (p. 148). He is sure that of 
the two church buildings at La Pointe, the one that belonged to the Protestant 
mission is the older (p. 160). He adds: "I would not add your authority to the 
idea that there is any question at all as to which is the older building." 

In the criticism that follows, I do not think that Mr. Wheeler establishes 
his point. I take it that nearly all cannibalism had its origin in the belief he 
describes : 

"On page 170 you comment on the incident related in Brother Leonard's 
letter, that it was the last trace of cannibalism in Wisconsin. This is not a 
cox'rect inference from the story which he relates. The practice of warriors' 
eating a piece of the flesh (usually the heart) of their foes when killed was in 
obedience to a vindictive instinct, and under the idea that the strength of the 
victim, thus eaten, becomes transferred by the act to the victor. It was a usage 
of war therefore that led the Indian in question to eat a piece of that French- 
man." None the less it was cannibalism: "The eating of human flesh by 
human beings." 



He who would do such work as, in the foregoing pages, I have attempted, 
must needs learn all he can of those whose years have brought them close to the 
borders of the unseen world. A happy part of my long task has been to try to 
get and put on record things preserved in the memoiy of Jeremiah Porter, — 
in the majestic presence of death let us drop the titles given by councils and 
schools, — Aaron Lucius Chapin, Luther Clajjp, Mrs. Harriet Wood Wheeler, 
Daniel Brown and Philo S. Bennett. To try to name all others of the dead 
and the living who by their reminiscences have given me help, would be, of 
necessity, a work so likely to be unsatisfactory that it is better, peihaps, to 
leave it wholly undone. This, perhaps, should be said that the contributions of 
President Chapin and Father Clapp have been chiefly of material that must be 
reserved for another volume. However, it was in view of meeting their judg- 
ment and, not less, that of men like them that this book was written. If it 
stand the test, I have succeeded in a part, at least, of what I sought to do. 



INDEX. 



Abbott's Histories, 242. 

Abbott, Judge , 179. 

A-boin-ug, the, 146. 

Abolitionists from the South, 184. 

Abraham (of Scripture), 149. 

Abrams, Abram, 123. 

Abstinence, total, among Indians, 83. 

Academy, North Wisconsin, 255, 256 

Aceldama, a veritable, 24. 

Adams, Captain (Henry?), 196. 

Adams, Daniel, 66, 128. 

Adams, John, 29. 

Adams, President J. Q., 149, 190. 

Adams, Sabra Howes, 279. 

Advance, The, 223. 

Advertiser, The Milwaukee, 225. 

Agmegue, (Gagmegue), 94. 

Agriculture among the Ojibways, 244. 

Aitkin, Alfred, 160. 

Aitkin county (Minnesota), 156. 

Aitkin, W. A., 156, 157, 160. 

Albany (Illinois), 194. 

Albany (New York), 30, 47, 71, 78, 

89, 94, 164, 177. 
Albion (New York), 218. 
Algics (Algonkins, Algonquians, Al- 

gonquins), 7, 10, 55, 56, 94. 108. 
Alleghany river, 185. 
Allen, Lieutenant - — -, 166. 
Alps, 134. 
Altamaha river, 29. 



Ambler, Augustus, 115, 151. 
America, Protestant episcopate in, 30. 
America, state papers of, 34. 
Americans, 27, 28, 32, 39, 40, 42, 43, 

44, 46, 100, 106, 119, 126. 
American Articles of Confedera- 
tion, 29. 
American Bible society, 164. 
American Board, 11, 47, 49, 114, 133, 

129, 130, 135, 136, 138, 139, 141, 

149, 162, 163, 164, 166, 168, 169, 

172, 209, 210, 233, 234, 235, 248^ 

275, 276. 
American college, origin of the, 32. 
American commonwealths, majority of 

the newer, 34. 
American flag, first in Wisconsin (?), 32. 
American Fur company, 47, 49, 134, 

148, 151, 158, 159, 180, 192, 233, 

240. 
American government, establishment 

of, in the Old Northwest, 35. 
American Home Missionary society, 

182, 183, 193, 209, 216. 
American Lakes, Tour of the, 58. 
American Missionary Association, 

144, 162, 163, 270, 276. 
American Revolution, the, 23, 29, 32, 

54, 100, 
American Tract society, 193. 
American Union, the Old Northwest 



2S2 INDI 

becomes a part of the, 32. 
Amherst college, 209. 
Anderson, Captain T. G., 189. 
Anderson, General Robert, 197, 199. 
Andover seminary, 155, 223, 233, 263 

276. 
Andreas, A. T., 213. 
Andrews, President I. W., 34. 
Anglo-Americans, 74, 75. 
Angus, John Daniel, 159, 160. 
Annals of Prairie du Chien, 186. 
Antoinette, Marie, 65. 
Anthony, John, 57. 
Appenoose, an Indian chief, 134. 
Airpletons CydopcecUa, 74. 
Appleton-street chm'ch, Lowell, 233. 
Arabian story of the camel, 95. 
Arctic zone, 26. 
Arkansas, 216. 
Armour mission, 271. 
Arnold, Benedict, 96. 
Ashland, 4, 147, 1*65, 167, 168, 229, 

250, 254, 255, 256, 257, 258, 268, 

270, 271, 273, 280. 
Ashley, John, Esq., 80. 
Asiatic Turkey, 108. 
Assembly of Massachusetts, 30. 
Asseni sibi, 221. 
Associate Reformed synod, 109. 
Astor, John Jacob, 47. 
Astoria, 47, 51, 158, 235. 
Athol (Massachusetts), 234. 
Atkinson, General Henry, 189, 190, 

197. 
Atlanta, 162. 
Atlantic coast, 73, 75. 
Atlantic states, emigration from, 39. 
Atlantic, Tlie, 173. 
Aunauwauneekhheck Jeremy, 84. 
Aupaumut, Captain Hendrick, 116, 

124. 
Austria, 42, 159. 
Autsequitt, Neddy, 57. 



ex. 

Ayer, Mrs. E. T., 157, 162, 163, 274, 

275, 276. 
Ayer, Rev. Frederic. 13, 151, 152, 

156, 157, 161, 162. 163, 234, 274, 

275, 276. 
Ayscough. Rev. Dr. Francis, 90. 
Aztalan, 218. 
Bacon, Rev. David, 46. 
Bad Axe, battle of the, 198, 199. 
Bad river, 168, 169, 240, 244, 245. 
Bad Smell, Bay of the. 14. 
Badin, Rev. J. V., 204. 
Balfour (or Belfour) Ca])tain 

Henry, 26, 45. 
Baltimore, 27. 
Bancroft, George, 11, 13. 
Banks, Sir Josejjh, 30. 
Baptist preachers, few in number, 220. 
Bajitism of an Indian, 239. 
Baraboo ranges, 207. 
Barber, Rev. Abel L., 209, 210, 215, 

216, 217. 
Barber, Mrs. A. L. (Elizabeth Wood- 
ford), 209. 
Barclay, Rev. Henry, 64. 78, 89. 
Barlow, Rev. Abner, 221. 
Barnard, Rev. Alonzo, 163. 
do Mrs. Alonzo, 163. 
Barre, Mons. de la, 6. 
Barrga, Rev. Frederic, 159, 170. 171. 

173. 
Basel, 134; treaty of, 28. 
Batteaux on Lake Sui)erior. 152. 
Bay City (AVisconsin), 250. 
Bay des Enock, 121. 
Bayfield, 11, 147, 167. 
Bayfiekl county, 5. 
Beard, Mr., an Oneida Indian, 123. 
Beauharnois, M. de, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. 
-Beaulieu, Abraham, 159. 
Beecher, Edward, 184. 

Belcher, Governor Jonathan, 75, 77. 
80, 82. 



Bellamy, Joseph, D. D., 77, 98. 
Belle Prairie (Minnesota), 162, 274, 

275. 
Belmont Gazette, 225. 
Belmont (Wisconsin), 185, 194, 200. 

223. 
Beloit, 172, 175, 224, 235, 250, 254. 

256, 257, 258, 259, 269, 270, 271. 
Beloit college, 208, 219, 222, 226, 

235, 255. 
Beloit College Monthly, 193. 
Beloit convention, 145. 
Beloit, First church of, 173. 221, 222. 
Beloit, first white child born at, 221. 
Beloit, naming of, 222. 
Beloit seminary, 222. 
Bennet, Elizabeth, 128. 
Bennet. John, 128. 
Bennett. Lieutenant Thomas, 156. 
Bennett, Rev. P. S., 66, 166. 215, 220. 
Benson, Mrs. H. H. (Sabra Howes 

Adams), 141. 
Benzonia (Michigan), 276. 
Berkshire county (Massachusetts), 148. 
Berlin, 159. 
Bethlehem, 69. 

Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), 109. 
Bethlem (Connecticut), 93. 
Bible, authorized vei'sion of, 175. 

Bihliogrcqihy of the Algonquian Lan- 

guages,, 167. 
Big Butte des Morts, 132. 
Big Foot, 223. 
'• Big Knives," 42, 44, 189. 
Billings, 38. 

Bingham, Rev. Abel, 152. 
BinghaTTi's Coluinhian Orator, 95, 
Binghamton (New York), 93. 
Bjelometschetskaja, 226. 
Black Hawk, 43, 132, 133, 184, 189, 

195, 196, 197, 198, 199. 

Black Hawk war, 24, 184, 195, 200. 
"Black laws" of Illinois, 193; of In- 



INDEX. 283 

diana, 38. 
Black Prince, Edward the, 1. 
Black river, 9. 
Black 8parrow-Hawk, 189. 
Blaisdell, Professor J. J., 256. 
Blatchford, Henry, 164, 171, 172, 257. 
Blodgett, Caleb, 222. 
Blodgett, Mrs. Caleb, 222. 
Board of Indian Commissioners, 76, 

79, 82, 92. 
Board of Overseers of Harvard 

college, 47. 
Boilvin. Nicholas, 39, 40, 43, 178, 188. 
Bois Brule, 18, 156. 
Bonham, Rev. B. B., 185. 
Borup, C. W., 157. 
Borup, Mrs. E., 157. 
Boston, 5, 16, 30, 38, 76, 77, 82, 90, 

92, 123, 177, 186. 
Boston, Old South church of, 4, 94. 
Boston, Prince society of, 4. 
"Boston, tea-party," 156. 
" Bostonians," 32, 203, 210. 
Bourbons, the, 26, 
Bourbon county (Kentucky), 184. 
Boutwell, Mrs. W. T. (Hester 

Crooks), 158. 
Boutwell, Rev. Wm. Thurston, 153, 

154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 275. 
Bowyer, John, Indian agent, 56, 64, 

202. 
Boyd,. George, 125, 136, 138. 
Boyd, Rev. O. E., 182. 
Boyle, Robert, 69. 
Braddock, defeat of, 30, 203. 
Bradford (New Hampshire), 193. 
Bradford, William, 33. 
Brainerd, David, 86, 124, 
Brant, Joseph, 68, 94. 
Bread, Daniel, 57. 
Breck, Rev. Daniel, 38. 
Bribery, 223. 
Brisbois, B. W., 175. 



284 



INDEX. 



Britain, 26, 35, 39, 42, 47. 

British army, the, 30. 

" British band," 189, 196. 

British Cohimbia, 6. 

British dominion, period of, 28, 44. 

British government, the. 29, 32, 34. 

British king, the, 32. 

British North America, 28. 

British Parliament, the, 29, 30. 

Britons, 1. 

Brothertown Indians, 57, 60, 61, 62, 

67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 98, 108, 117, 

120, 121, 137, 224. 
Brothertown (New York), 69, 70, 71, 

97, 101, 105. 
Brothertown, (Wisconsin), 72. 
Brown county, 224. 
Brown, Daniel, 213, 214, 215, 216, 

217, 218, 225, 280;— Mrs. D., 214, 

215, 216, 217. 
Brown, J. H. H., Protestant Episcopal 

bishop, 204. 
Brown, Rev. D. K, 205, 210. 
Brown, Samuel, 213, 214, 216, 218, 

225;— Mrs. Samuel, 213. 
Brown's History of Missions, 100, 

105, 106. 
Brule-St. Croix portage, 18, 156, 187. 
Brunson, Rev. Alfred, 134, 165, 166, 

167, 185, 186. 
Buck, J. S. 215. 
Buckle, Henry Thomas, 197. 
Buffalo (New York), 149. 
Buffalo Creek (New York), 61. 
Bulger, Capt. Andrew A., 43, 44. 
liurdick. Miss Susan, 216. 
Burdick, Mrs. Paul, 213, 214. 
Burdick, Paul, 213. 214. 
Bull, Rev. Nehemiah, 77. 
Burgoyne, surrender of, 96, 10(), 126. 
Burns, Robert, 32. 
Burlington (Iowa), 223. 
Burr, Aaron, 77. 
Burr, Professor A. W., 256. 



Bushnell, George, D. D., 252. 

Butte des Morts, the great, 25. 

Butterfield, C W., 16, 28, 184, 191. 

Cadeau, Mons, 148, 280. 

Cades (Wisconsin), 111. 

Cadillac, La Mothe, 21, 45. 

Cadle, Rev. Richard F., 65, 122, 127, 

205 
Cadotte, Jean Baptiste, 148. 
Cadotte, Michael, 148. 
Caliokia, (Illinois), 31, 
Caientouton, island of, 14. 
Calhoun, John Caldwell, 55. 
Calhoun (Minnesota), 149. 
California, 12, 148. 
California, gulf of, 85. 
Calumet county, 72, 137. 
Calumetville, 145. 

Calvert, Cecil (Lord Baltimore), 33. 
Calvinism, 197 ; democracy of, 278. 
Camp Smith, 205. 
Campbell, John, 157. 
Camjjbell, Lieutenant John, 43. 
Campbell, Mrs. Elizabeth, 102, 157. 
Canada, 1, 2, 6, 15, 18, 27, 28, 29, 31, 

32, 40, 48, 54, 65, 75, 78, 85, 94, 

95, 96, 100, 153, 165, 175, 180, 

201, 203. 
Canadian traders, 39. 
Canajoharie, 68, 93, 94. 
Cannibalism in Wisconsin, 28, 170, 

280. 
Canning, E. W. B., 76, 93. 97. 108. 
Canterbury, (Conn.), 30. 
Canton, (China), 108. 
Capital fixed at Madison. 223. 
CardiUac, 45. 

Car-i-mau-nee, Winnebago chief, 190. 
Carleton college, 256. 
parli.sle, Indian school at, 87. 
Carver, Captain Jonathan, 30, 176, 

177, 181, 201, 210. 
"Carver's grant," 30, 181. 
Carver, John. Governor, 30. 



" Carver's Travels" 30, 75. 

Cass Lake, 155, 163. 

Cass, Lewis, 112, 113, 148, 181, 189. 

Cassville, 183, 194, 224. 

Catlin, George, 133, 136. 

Catlin's North American Indians, 109. 

Caughnawaga (Canada), 65. 

Caulking, Mr. , 100, 104. 

Cayugas, the, 55. 

Central Park, New York, 235. 

Chambers, Colonel Talbot, 178. 

Chamherlins Geology, 207. 

Chapin, Aaron L., 193, 194, 219, 280. 

Chapin, Rev. Walter, 48. 

Chardon, J. B., 19. 

Charles, Cornelius S., 129. 

Charles II. of England, 3, 69. 

Charlestown (Rhode Island), 69. 

Charlevoix, P. F. X., 2, 3, 19, 55. 

Chase, Enoch, 215 ; Horace, 212. 

Chepekataw sibi, 220. 

Chequamegon bay, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 26, 

45, 49, 146, 147, 148, 240, 274. 
Chequamegon point, 147. 
Chester, William, D. D., 47. 
Chester, Rev. William, 47. 
Childs, "Colonel" Ebenezer, 113. 
Chicago, 31, 36, 42, 154, 180, 186, 

205, 209, 212, 213, 214, 215, 219, 

220, 223, 256, 258, 270, 271, 276. 
Chicago, jiortage at, 18, 211. 
Chicago river, 18, 110. 
Chic-hon-sic, a Winnebago, 190. 
Cliicks, Jacob C, 57, 125. 
Chicks, J. N., 139, 140, 142. 
China, 108, 171, 185. 
China damask, garment of, 1. 
Chipman, Samuel, 251. 
Chippecotton sibi, 220. 
Chippewas (Chippewaus), 75, 163, 173, 

175, 233, 238; their language, 154. 

Chippewa Falls, 167, 249. 
Chi])pewa river, 4, 181. 
"Chippewau," 48. 



INDEX. -ass 

Choate, Rufus, 34. 

Choctaw Indians, 115. 

Choir, first at Milwaukee, 216. 

Cholera in upper Mississippi region, 199. 

Chouart, Medart, 2. 

Christinos, 3, 5. 

Christmas at the Odanah mission, 242. 

Chm'ch, first in Milwaukee, 218. 

Church discipline, 205. 

Church. Harriet M., 217. 

Church of England, 29. 

Cincinnati, Catholic Institute of, 15. 

Citizenship given to the Muh-he-ka-ne- 
ok, 139. 

Claims, court of, 61, 67. 

Clapp, Father Luther, 280. 

Clark, Colonel George Rogers, 31, 32, 
36, 40. 

Clark, Rev. John, 66, 123, 165, 166. 

Clark, Rev. John (an Ojibway), 4, 256. 

Clark, William, governor, 40, 41. 

Clergyman, first in Milwaukee, 215. 

-Clerk of the Closet," 90. 

Cleveland (Ohio), 46, 248. 

Clinton brothers, early settlers in Mil- 
waukee, 218. 

Clinton, Governor De Witt, 63. 

Clinton (New York), 63, 98. 

Cochran, Andrew, 184. 

Codex. Beloit College, 222. 

Codman, John, D. D„ 123. 

Coe, Alvin, 148-151, 182, 183. 

Cohokia (Illinois), 32. 

Colebrook (New Hampshire), 222. 

Colman, Rev. Benjamin, D. D., 82, 83, 
86, 90, 99, 108. 

Colonial troops in Wisconsin (?), 177. 

Colorado, 270. 



Colton, Professor Calvin, 54, 57. 58. 

116-118, 127, 135. 
Columbia county, 207. 
Columbian exhibition, 274. 
Comet (steamer), 42. 
Commentary, Seotfs, 110, 197. 



2S6 

Commuck, Thomas, 72, 137. 

Communion service among Indians, 239. 

Comstock, Dr. William S., 53. 

Concert of prayer, 183. 

Congregational church, the first in Wis- 
consin, 114; the fiist one organized 
in Wisconsin, 157. 

Congregational convention of Wiscon- 
sin, 219. See Presbyterian and Con- 
gregational convention. 

Congregational club of Lake Superior, 
255. 

Congregational Quarterly^ 46, 98. 

Congress (of the Confederation), 33, 
34,35. 

Connecticut, 30, 69, 85, 115, 181, 186, 
209; academy of arts and sciences, 
74; "board of correspondents," 63; 
missionary society 46, 182. 

Connecticut river, 85. 

Convention, Presbyterian and Congre- 
gational, 142, 145. See Congrega- 
tional convention. 

Cook, Delia, 157, 160. 

Cooley, Jennie S., 171. 

Copper river, 9. 

Copvvay, Geoi'ge, 165, 166. 

Coram, Thomas, 90, 96. 

Couretirs de hois, 15. 

Cotitume de Paris, 179. 

Covenant of Ojibway churches, 173. 

Crasbury, Mr. , 103. 

Craivford county, history of, 184. 

Crawford Miss , 180, 18l'. 

Crawford, Rev. Gilbert, 218, 219. 

Crawford, T. H., 98. 

Crawford, W. H., 178. 

Crecy, battle of, 1. 

Crees, the 3. 

Crespel, Rev. Emanuel, 19. 

Creswell, Rev. R. J., 163. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 197. 

Crooks, Hester, 158. 

Crooks, Ramsey. 47. 158. 



INDEX. 

Crow river, 141. 

Crow Wing, 167, 170. 

Crown Point, 94. 

Culloden, victor at, 90. 

Cumberland Presbytei'ians, 132, 182, 
183. 

Cumberland University, 185. 

Curtis, Daniel, 203. ' 

Cushik, 103, 108. 

Cutler, Colonel Enos, 132. 

Cutler, Ephraim, 37 ; Rev. Manassch, 
33, 34, 35, 38, 39. 

Dakota Indians, 5, 15, 57, 146. 201. 
" See Sioux. 

Dakotas, the (states), 127, '200. 

Dane county, 196, 221. 

pane, Nathan, 34. 

Danville (Vermont), 276. 

Dartmouth college, 54, 68, 69, 70, 
112, 144, 155, 276. 

UAuhignes History of the Reformxi- 
tion, 242. 

Daumont, Simon Francais, 13, 148. 

Davenport (Iowa), 133. 

Davenport, George, 133. 

Davidson, J. N., 38, 255, 274. 

Davis, Jefferson, 127, 207, 208. 

Deansburg, 72. 

Death penalty inflicted by the Stock- 
bridges in Wisconsin, 137 ; death 
rate lessened among them, 138. 

Daerfield (Massachusetts), 65, 86; His- 
tory and Genealogy of 65. 

Deer Park (Illinois), 22. 

Defoe, Julia, 267. , 

Delawares, (Leni-Lennappes), 54. 55, 
73, 86, 99, 100, 105-109, 111. 132, 
137 ; their language, 75. 

Delawaie river, 73, 87 

Denton, Rev. .Samuel, 134. 

De Pere. 13, 14, 23. . " . 

De Peyster, Major A. S. 30, 31. 

Des Moines county, 200 ; river, 22, 
133,134,192,200. 



INDEX. 



2S7 



Destitution in Wisconsin, 219. 



Dw'ujMt Travels 105, 12G. 



Detroit, 16-18, 28, 30, 31, 40, 45, Dwinnell, Rev. S. A., 218, 223, 224. 



46, 50, 54, 64, 116, 122, 148, 181, 

248, 276. 
Dick, Alonzo, 72; E. M., 72; William, 

57 ; W. H., 72. 
Dickinson, Rev. C. E. 38 ; "■ General " 

William, 113. . 

Dickson, Robert, 40, 41, 178, 21 1. 
"Diggings" population in the, 192. 
Discipline of churches, 205. 
Dixon (Illinois), 196, 197. 
Dog Plains. See Prairie. duChien. 
Dodgeville, 224. 
Doolittle, Senator J. R., 253. 
Doty, Ex-Governor. 31, 120, 139, 223 
Douglas, Barzillai 217. 
Dracut (Massachusetts), 231. 
Dragonades, 277. 

Drake's North, American' Indians, 3. 
Draper, L. C, 11, 72. 
Dress, mode of among the Stockbridges, 

140; of a Winnebago chief, 190i 
Drexel, Miss Catherine, 172. 
Drummond, George, Esq., 99. 
Drummond. Lieutenant General Sir 

George .Gordon, 40. 
Drummond's Island, 44, 189. 
Du Buisson, Sieur ,24. 



Dubuque, 188, 199; county, 200. 

Dubuque, Julieu, 187, 188. 

"Dubuque's Mines," 192. 

Duche, Rev. Jacob, 32. 

Duck Creek, 64, 67, 122, 129. 

Duke of Cumberland, 90 ; of Kent, 28. 

Dii Lhut (Luth), Daniel Grayson, 147. 

Daperon, Joseph Inbert, 4. 

Du Quesne, Marquis , 26. 

Dunaud, Rev. M., 180. . . . 

Durant, Henry Fowle, 154 ; Pauline 

Adeline, 154. 
Durrie Daniel S., 114. 
Dustin, Mrs. Hannah, 252. 
Dutch, the, 2, 4 ; settlements of, 85, 95. 



Early History of Michigan, 45. 

Eaton, President E. D., 226. 

Eatonvdle, 149. 

Eau Claire land-office, 249. 

'•P:clipse" wind-mill, 168, 251, 252, 

, 273. 

Edinburgh, 99. 

Education in Wisconsin, History of, 

115. 
Edward the Black Prince, 1. 
Edwards, Jonathan, 67, 91-93, 95, 99, 

ill, 114, 145. 
Edwards, Jonathan, the younger, 74, 

75, 94, 98. 
P^dvvards, Timothy, 96. 
Edwards, Rev. Tryon, D. D., 74. 
Ee-tow-o-kaum, (Austin E. Quinney), 

109. 
Egypt, 274. 
Ekaentouton, 13. 
Election, first in Milwaukee, 217. 
Eliot's Bible, 69, 74, 75, 124. 
Eliot, John, 11, 69, 85,. 86. 
Ellis, A. G., 49, 57, 60, 64, 65, 110, 
111, 119, 121, 202, 203, 204, 205. 
Ellis, Edwin, 165, 167, 173, 255, 259, 

266. 
Elk Creek, 155. 
Elk Lake, 155, 156. 
Elskwatawa (brother to Tecumseh), 

106. 
Ely, Rev. Edmund F., 157, 158, 162, 

, 168, 238, 239. 
Emerson, Professor Joseph, 235. 
Endecott (Endicott) John, 5. 
England, 5, 17, 23, 26, 68, 69, 74, 76, 
79, 80, 88, 94, 133; church of, 29. 
English colonies, 29. 
English, Mrs. M. W., 151, 267, 268, 

279. 
English, the, 2, 16, 17, 18, 27, 30, 34, 
78, 84, 88, 89, 92, 94, 100. 



2«.s 



INDEX. 



Eiimegahbowk, (missionary), 166. 
Enterprise (steamer), 42. 
Episcopacy, aristocracy of, 278. 
Episcopal church among Oneidas, 63 
Episcopal church in America, 29. 
Episcopal Missionary society, 65. 
Erection of buildings for missions. 66, 

114, 248. 
Escanaba, 121. 
Escotecke, the, 3. 
Esprit, Pierre d', 2. 
Esprit Pointe d', 11. 
Essex Institute Historical Collections, 

vol. VII., 156. 
Ethnology, Bureau of. Report for 

1885-6, 55. 
Euphrates, the, 216. 
Europe, 1, 28, 42, 168, 197, 205. 
Eustis, Secretary William, 178. 
Evanston, 213. 
Everts, Jeremiah, 149. 
Exeter (New Hampshire), 155. 
Fairchild, ex-President James, 163. 
Falls of St. Anthony, 15, 149, 279. 
Faribault, Jean Baptiste, 181. 
Faribault (Minnesota), 181. 
Farmington, 69, 74, 105. 
Farmingtons, the, 69, 74, 105. 
Fast, annual, observed in Massachusetts 

and Wisconsin, 128, 136. 
Fatal Secret, the, 211. 

Fauvel (Favrell), , 204, 205. 

" Father of waters," the, 175. 

Felicity, (sloop of war), 211. 

Fenton (Michigan), 277. 

Ferry Hall (Lake Forest). 50. 

Ferry, Thomas White, 50. 

Ferry, William Montague, 48, 49, 50, 

154, 205, 277. 
Festivities at the Odanah mission, 241. 
Fevre river, 188, 192, 193. 
Field, Rev. David Dudley, D. D., 85, 

88, 95, 97. 
•Fifty Years in the Northwest (Fol- 



som), 157. 
Finch, Asahel, Jr., 218. 
Finney, C G., 162. 
Fiske, Professor John, 27, 278. 
Fitch, A. M., 249. 
Five Nations, the, 55. 
Flambeau, Lac du, 249. 
"Float" (land warrant), 214. 
Florida, 27, 29, 33, 179. 
Folles Avoines, 21, 210. 
Folsom, W. H., 157. 
Fond du Lac (Wisconsin), 60. 
Fond du Lac, (Minnesota), 153, 155, 

157, 158, 160-162, 167-169, 238, 

239. 
Force, Peter, 278. 
'"Forts" on Madelaine island; middle. 

267; new, 153; old, 147, 153, 256. 
"Forts," in the lead region, 199. 
Fort Armstrong, 133, 192. 
Fort Atkinson, 224. 266. 
Fort Beauharnois, 19, 20. 
Fort Clark, 41. 
Fort Crawford, 166, 178, 179. 190, 

203, 207, 208. 
Fort Dearborn, 154, 220, 223. 
Fort Edward Augustus, 26, 201, 202. 
Fort Gilbert, 220. 
Fort Harmar, garrison of, 38. 
Fort Howard, 14, 21, 52, 64, &o, 190, 

201,202,204, 205,206, 207. 209. 
Fort Jefferson, 31. 
Fort Leavenworth, 137. 
Fort Mackinaw, Old, 31, 45, 177; the 

new, 40, 46. 
Fort Madison, 42. 
Fort McKay, 43, 178. 
Fort Morand, 224. 
Fort Pon char train, 45. 
Eort Ramsay, 153. 
Fort Sackville (Indiana). 31. 
Fort St. Francis, 19, 20, 21, 26. 202. 
Fort Shelby, 40, 42, 43, 178, 189. 
Fort Snelling, 149, 150, 158, 166, 162. 



INDEX. 
j Gardner, 



2S{) 



-, an Indian, 129. 



Fort Sumpter, 197. 

Fort William Henry, 30. | Garfield, President James A., 46. 

Fort Winnebago, 50, 127, 145, 149.' Garrison, W. L., 184. 



190, 194, 205, 207, 208, 209, 210, 

224. 
Four Lakes, the (of Madison), 196. 
Four-Legs, 118, 119. 
Fowle, Major John, 154. 
Fowler, David, 67, 68, 69, 71, 97; 

Jacob, 68, 69; Mary, 68; William, 72. 
Fox Indians, the, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20, 

21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 188, 192. See 

also Outagamies. 
Foxes (and Sacs), 132, 134, 189, 195. 
Fox river, (tributary of the Illinois), 

219, 220, 221, 224. 
Fox river, the, 1, 2, 13, 16, 19, 20, 25, 

30, 56, 58, 60, 64, 71, 110, 117, 

120, 123, 129, 130, 142, 176, 207. 
Fox-Wisconsin canal, 207. 
Fox- Wisconsin route and portage, 9, 

12, 18, 30, 47, 175, 176, 190, 207, 

210. 
France, 14, 26, 27, 29, 35, 44; '^His 

Christian Majesty" of, 27, 175. 
Franco-British Wars, 1, 278. 
P^ank, Colonel M., 221, 225. 
Frederick, Prince of Wales, 90. 
Fremont (Nebraska), 85. 
French and Indian war, 25, 28, 45, 

91, 147. 
French colonies, loss of, 27. 
French creek (Pennsylvania), 185. 
French, the, 2, 3, 16, 17, 27, 28, 30, 

41, 49, 78, 87, 88, 91, 93, 94, 147. 
Frontenac, Marquis de, 15. 
Fulton, Robert, 33. 
Gagmegue (Agniegue), 94. 
Gah-nu-k wash-koh-dah-ding, 1 1 . 
Gaines, General E. P., 196. 
Galena (Illinois), 31, 134, 154, 187, 

191-194,197,208, 22^. See Fevre 

river. 
Ga-no-a-lo-ha-le, 63. 



Gauthier, Charles, 210. 

Gavin, Daniel, 134, 135. 

Geneva (New York), 62; Wisconsin, 

223. 
Geology of Wisconsin, 207. 
George III., 29, 44, 68, 90, 97, 147. 
Georgia, 29, 162. 
Germany, 35. 
Ghent, treaty of, 43, 201. 
Gibbon, Edward, 27. 
Giddings, J. R., 46. 
Gilbert, Henry, 170. 
Gilman, Secretary E. W., 164. 
Girty, Mike, 197. 
Glacial epoch, the second, 156. 
Glazier, Willard, 155. 
Gleason, Rev. G L., 19. 

Gorhani, , 98. 

Gorrel, Lieutenant James, 201. 

Gorton, Mrs. C. M. R., 277. 

Governor C^ar/v- (gunboat). 40, 42, 43. 

Graham, Duncan, 186. 

Grand Crossing (Chicago, Illinois), 115. 

Grand Detour, 194. 

Grand Haven, 50. 

Grand Kau-kau-lin (South Kaukauna), 

66, 110, 111, 113, 117, 120, 123, 

129, 205. 
Grand Portage, 147, 156. 
Gratiot, Charles, 31 ; Henry, 31 ; (^ra- 

tiot's Grove, 31. 
Grant, President, peace policy of, 253. 
Grant county, 200. 
Grassie, Rev. T. G., 256, 259. 
Great Harrington (Massachusetts), 77, 

82, 91. 
Great Britain, 27, 54, 68, 69, 86, 94, 

106. 
Great Lakes (and upper Lake region), 

28, 30, 32, 43, 44, 46, 48, 52, 58. 

See also special names. 



2^0 ii\i)p:x. 

Gregorian calendar, 76, 80. 

Green Bay, 3, 9, 13, 14, 18, 121. 

Green Bay, region or "jjarish" of, 1, 3, 
13, 16, 18, 21, 22, 24-27, 56, 57, 
60, 64, 65, 67, 110, 111, 118, 119, 
278; Indians of, 57. ^ee also Me- 
nominees, Winnebagoes, etc. 

Green Bay, post and city of, 19, 28, 30, 
35, 36, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 
52-54, 56, 59-61, 64-66, 110, 111, 
114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 121, 122, 
125, 127, 129, 130, 137, 144, 145, 
147-149, 161. 177, 181, 186, 189, 
200-202, 204, 205, 207, 209. 212, 
218, 224, 276 

Green Bay newspapers: Free Press, 
InteU'ujencer, Spectator, 225. 

Green, Cliancellor N., 185. 

Green Lake county, 2. 

Gi'eene, Secretary David, 130, 149. 

Greenwood, Grace, 235, 

Gregory, Rev. Henry, 217. 

Grignon, Louis, 41, 201, 203; [Grig- 
nion], Augustus, 22, 24, 25, 42, 203, 
212. 

Grosseilliers, Sieur des, 2, 5, 6, 11, 15. 
16, 210, 277. 

Grosse Point, 213. 

Groton (Connecticut), 69. 

Guerin, Jean, 9. 

Gulf of Mexico, 26, 175, 207. 

Guy Park, 99. 

Haldiniand, Sir Frederick. Governor of 
Canada, 31, 32. 

Hall, Chauncey, 129, 135, 136, 277; 
Miss Jennie, 277 ; Mrs. B. P., 157, 
274 ; Rev. Sherman, 152, 153, 155, 
156. 157, 160, 161, 164, 165, 167, 
168, 170, 274. 

Hamilton college, 49 ; Colonel Henry 
30, 32. 

Hamlin, Rev. Cyrus, 257. 

Hampton (Virginia), institution at, 87 



1-44. 
Hanson's Lost Prince, 57. 
"Hard times" in Wisconsin, 220. 
Hardy, Mrs. C. F., 264. 
Harris, Rev, Thompson S., 62. 
Harrison, Governor and President, 106, 

188. 
Harson's Island, 46, 
Harvard college, 47, 54, 63, 82. 
Hatfield (Massachusetts), 78, 86. 
Hatfield's Poets of the Church, 72. 
Haverhill (Massachusetts), 19. 
Hawley Gideon, 93, 94. 
Hayes, Sir James, 6. 
Hay ward (Wisconsin), 171. 
Heaton, Rev. I. E., 185. 
Hehberd's French Dowinion in Wis- 
consin, 12, 21, 26. 
Hett'eron, Countess de, 159. 
Hendrick (Aupaumut), Captain, 106, 

107, 108, 112, 116, 121, 124 127; 

Mrs., 124; Solomon U., 56, 110; 

Thomas T., 129, 137. 
Hennepin, Louis, 15, 279. 
Henry III, 27; IV, 27; Alexander, 

147, 148 ; Governor Patrick, 32, 36. 
Hiawatha, 46. 

Hill, Mrs. A. L., 213, 214.* 
Hinman, Deacon Samuel, 218. 

Hinsdel, Rev. , 82. 

Historical Collections. See Wisconsin, 

Minnesota, etc. 
Historical Memoirs, 77, 108, 124. 
Histories. See particular subjects. 
Hoar, Senator G. F., 33. 35. 
Hoard, William Dempster. 97. 
Hobart, Bishop J., 64, 122. 

Hocquart, , 22. 

Holden, Samuel, Esq., 86. 

Holland Land company, 60, 98, 105. 

Hollis, Isaac, 82, 83. 84, 87, 91; 

professorship, 47 ; Thomas, P^sq., 82. 
Holton, Amos, 203. 
Hanover (New Hampsliire), 68, 140,] Holy Sjnrit, Mission of the, 10-13. 



INDEX. 

Home Missionary, the, 185, 215-217, 

219, 220. 
Hooker, Thomas, 33. 
Hoi)kiiis, Rev. Samuel (the elder), 76, 

77, 80, 81, 91,97, 99, 108, 124 ;| Indian affah-s, committee on, 95 

(the younger), 91; President Mark, Indians' suffering in illness, 234. 



291 

Immigration into Wisconsin from South 
and East, 199, 220. 

Inauguration of Wisconsin's first gover- 
nor, 200. 



90. 
Houghton (Michigan). 253. 
Housatonic (unnuk) Indians, 73, 75. 

80; the place, 77, 82. 83, 85, 86, 

99 ; the river, 75, 85. 
Howard, General Benjamin, 41. 
Hiihbard, Thomas, 92. 
Hudson bay, 3. 6, 18, 40; company, 6. 

41 ; river, 75, 80, 83. 85, 95. 
Huebschmann, Francis, 142. 
Hughes, Rev. J. V., 144. 
Huguenots, the, 5. 31, 175, 277. 
Hull, Brigadier General William, 40; 

Mrs. Mary, 271. 
Humboldt, Karl Wilhelm (?), 74. 
Hundred Years' AVar, the first, 1 ; the 

second, 1, 17, 278. 
Hunt, Wilson Price, 47. 
Hunter, Lieutenant-General, 28. 
Huntington. Samuel, 225. 
Hurons, the. 4, 5, 7-13. 18, 22, 45, 49, 

55, 61, 146, 147, 165, 279. 

Hurtibis, Mr. , 43. 

Hutton, A. J., 276; Mrs. A. J., 276. 

" Ida Glenwood," 277. 

Illinois, 18, 22, 24, 28, 31, 32, 36-40, 

50, 54, 55, 136, 164, 166, 182, 191, 

193, 224. 
Illinois college, 184. 
Illinois, commandant of the country of, 

36. 
Illinois, the (Indians), 2, 12, 24. 
Illinois militia, disbandment of, 197. 
Illinois river, 18, 22, 31. 41, 197, 

211, 219, 220. 
Illinois volunteers in Black Hawk War, 

197. 
Immanuel church (Milwaukee), 219. 



Indian Puritans, 112. 

Indian Territory, 61, 66. 

Indian Trade, profit in, 192. 

Indiana. 32 35, 37, 37, 39, 54, 100, 

105, 107, 109 111, 113, 124, 166, 

220. 
Inquisition, 14. 
" Inter-lachen," an, 223. 
Intolerance, Roman Catholic, 13-15, 

176. 
Iowa, 35, 39, 133, 189, 195, 199, 

200, 216. 
Iowa county, 200, 224. 
lowas, the, 21, 188. 
Ish-ko-da-wa-bo ("fire-water"), 245. 
Ipswich Hamlet (Hamilton, Massachus- 
etts), 33. 
Ipswich, Mary Lyon's school at, 232, 
Ireland, 37. 
Iroquois (Six Nations), 2, 4, 7, 11, 12, 

16, 22, 23, 55, 56, 61, 62, 93, 94, 

98, 104, 108, 279. 
Irving, Prof. R. D., 207. 
Irving, Washington, 47, 51. 
Irwin (not Erwin), Alexander J., 132. 
Isaac, Dolly, 123. 
Ishkado, 3. 

Itasca, origin of name, 155- 
Jackson, President Andrew, 197. 
James, Edwin, 154, 164, 180, 181. 
James, Mrs. W. L., 165. 
; James, Rev. AV. L., 165. 
Janesville, 224. 

Jefferson, President Thomas, 126. 
Jesuits, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15. 127, 143. 
Jesuit Relations, 8, 9, 12, 13. 
Jews, order for persecution of, 176, 
Johnson, Colonel James, 188, 189, 192. 



292 



INDEX. 



Johnson, John (Enmegahbowk), 166. Kilbourn, Byron, 214. 215. 



Johnson, T. .S. 203. 

Johnston, John, 147. 

Joliet, Louis, 176, 211. 

Jones, George W., 199, 208. 

Jones, Miss Electa, 94, 103 ; lier His- 
tory of Stockbridge. 73, 81, 126, 137, 

Jones, Peter, 164, 165. 

Josephine^ (steamboat), 191. 

Jourdan, Timothy T., 129. 

Journal^ Carver's, 177. 

Juneau, L. S., 212, 213, 216, 225. 

Juneau, Peter, 225. 

Julian calendar, 80. 

Julius Caesar (Shakespeare), 5. 

Kanadesaga, 62, 

Kansas, 61 ; territory of 61, 137, 141. 

Kaposia (Minnesota), 162, 166. 

Kaskaskia (Illinois), 18, 32; death for 
witchcraft at, 36; court of. 36, 37. 

Katakosakout, 56. 

Katzer, Archbishop F. X, 36. 



Killistinoes, the, 75. 

Khnball, Edward Fiske, 11. 

Kinderhook, 93. 

Kingston, J. T., 219. 

Kinzie, J. H., 180, 181, 208; Mrs. J. 

H., 50, 208. • 

Kirby, Miss , 225. 

Kirk, Sir John, 5 ; daughter of, 5. 
Kirkland, Rev. John Thornton, 63; 

Rev. Samuel, 62-64, 68, 71, 94, 98> 

103, 106. 
Kishkakonk nation, 12. 
Knapp, Gilbert, 220. 
Knox, Major-General Henry, 106. 
Konkapot, B., 57 ; Captain John, 75- 

77, 79, 81, 83, 85, 94, 112; Hannah, 

128; Levi, Jr., 112; Mary, 128; 

Robert, 128; Robert 137. 
Ko-nosh-o-ni, the 55. 
Lancaster Congregational church, 184. 



j L'Anse (Michigan), 165. 
Kaukauna, See South Kaukauna and Latlirop, Rev. D. W., 383. 



Grand Kau-kau-lin. 
Kaunaumeek, 86. 
Kearney, Major S. W., 178. 
Keinonche, 11, 12. 



Latrobe, C J., 186. 
La Baye, 20, 21, 26, 177, 201, 202. 
Lac Court Oreilles, 166, 170, 249. 
Lac du Flambeau, 170, 249. 



Kellogg, Austin, 221 ; Captain Martin, Lacy, Dr. A. T., 225. 



90 93. 
Kemper, Bishop J. J. 217. 
Kennedy, Mrs. Augusta S. 265, 266. 
Kenosha, 12, 209, 221, 224, 225. 
Kent, Mrs. Aratus, 208; Rev. Aratus, 

154, 182, 183, 185, 193, 194, 208, 

210, 219. 
Kentucky, 32, 189, 199. 
Keokuk (Iowa), 192 ; famous chief, 35, 

133, 195. 
Keshena, 144. 
Kewaunee, 212. 
Keweenaw Point, 7 ; b.iy, 165. 
Kiala, an Outagamie chief, 22. 
Kickapoos, the, 14, 21 ; river, 22, 24, 

25. 



Ladd, Professor G. T., 213, 214. 

La Fayette, town of, 223 ; county of» 

31, 200. 
La Framboise, Alexander, 212; Fran- 
sis, 212; Josette, 212. 
Lake Athabasca, 48, 278. 
do. Erie, 211. 
do. Forest university, 50. 
do. Geneva (Wisconsin), 223; the 

village, 223, 
do. George, 30, 94. 
do. Harriet, 127, 162. 
do. Huron, 2, 3, 5, 13, 14, 75. 155, 

177, 189, 211. 
do. Itasca, 39, 155, 156, 
do. Koshkonong, 196, 197. 



Lake Michigan. 1, 14, 18, 21, 26, 39, 
40, 44, 45, 54, 60, 64, 66, 110, 121, 
123, 146. 177, 191, 200, 201, 207, 
211, 212, 215, 221. 
Lake Naniekegon, 4. 
do. of the Woods, 39, 200. 
do. Pepin, 176. 187. 
do. road to Milwaukee, 213. 
do. Superior region, 147, 280. 
do. Superior. 148, 150-154, 156, 
158, 163, 165, 168, 171, 233, 238, 
253, 254. 268, 277, 
do. Winnipeg (pic), 41, 156, 276. 
do. Winnebago, 138, 211 ; builders of 
first steamboat on, 72. 
Land specuhitions in Wiscon.sin, 200. 
Langlade, Augustine, 203; Charles M. 
de. 30-32, 35, 203, 2 10 ; county. 203. 
La Perriere, Sieur de (Boucher), 19. 
La Pointe, 49-51, 147, 148, 151 153, 
155-161, 163, 165, 167 170, 180. 
187, 233, 234. 238, 239, 245. 249, 
255, 267, 273-275; county, 167. 
La Salle, 15, 176. 187. 212. 
Law, John, 15; John, 175, 176. 
Lawe, John, 41, 52, 203. 
Laws of Canada ("Quebec act"), 29 
Lead mines, 14. 31, 187, 188, 191, 192. 
Lebanon (Tennessee), 185 ; (Connecti 

cut), school, 62, 67, 68. 
Lee, Major-General Charles, 94. 
Leech Lake. 156 158. 160, 162, 275. 
Legislature, of Wisconsin. 32, 200, 278. 
Leonard, Mrs. Emily, 258, 260, 261. 
Le Roy, Francis, 210, 258. 
Leni Lennappes, 54, 100. See also 

Delawares. 
Le Sueur, Pierre, 14, 147, 187, 188. 
L'Epervier (Black Hawk), 189. 
Lewis, Cai)tain, Meriwether, 40. 
Life, loss of. in Black Hawk War, 197. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 36, 172. 197. 199. 
Lincolnshire, 133, 231. 
Lisbon (Connecticut), 62. 



INDEX. ^^'i 

'^Little Chute," 56, 110, 121. 

do. Crow, 162, 166. 
Little Kaukauna, 60, 64 66, 71, 72, 

110. 121. 

do. Osage river, 61, 137. 

do. Rapids. 64. See also Little 

Kaukauna. 
Littledale, Rev. R. F., 14. 
Littleman, Isaac, 137 ; Peter, 137. 
Livingston, Hon. Philip, 78. 
Lockport (New York), 193. 
Lockwoud, James, 78 ; James H., 179- 

183, 186; Mrs. James H. (Julianna 

Warren), 180, 181, 186, 202. 
Longmeadow (Massachusetts), 65, 76_ 
Long Island, 67-69. 
Long, Major, Stephen Harriman, 153. 
London, 30, 86, 90. 
Loss, Rev. L. H. 222. 
Lothrop, Rev. Jason, 225. 
Louis XIII., 15, 26,27, 175; XIV., 13, 

23. 27, 44; XV., 27, 44; XVI., 65. 
Louisburg, 1. 
Louisiana, 14, 15, 27, 175-177, 188, 

216; purchase, 39, 216. 
Louvigny, M. de, 19, 24, 45. 
Love, Deacon Robert, 218; Rev. AVill- 

iam De, 67, 70, 72, 97. 
Lovejoy, Rev. Elijah Parish, 38. 
Lowell (Massachusetts), 231 233, 241, 

248-250, 254. 
Lowrey, Rev Daniel. 183-185. 
Lowrie, Rev, John C.. 47. 
Luce, Andrew J. 220 ; William. 220. 
Lyndon (Illinois), 194. 
Lyon, Mary, at Ipswich, 232. 
McArthur, Rev. H. G., 266, 267 ; Mrs. 

H. G.. 266. 
McCabe, J. P. B., 137. 
McCall, James, 56, 57, 59, 71. 118- 

121. 
McCockle, James, 109. 
McClellan, General G. B., wife of, 205. 
McDouall, Lieut.-Col. Robert, 40, 44. 



•2m 



lyD 



McDougall. Dr. Charles. 210. 
MoGaultley (British sailor), 211. 

McKay, Lieutenant-Colonel William. 
41, 42, 178. 189. 

McKinney. Colonel Thomas L., 113. 

McMaster's account of the -Marietta 
colony, 33. 

Mackinaw island, trading-post and fort, 
40, 42-44, 46-52, 116, 122, 130. 
148, 151, 152, 154, 156, 179, 181, 
205, 212, 233. 

Mackinaw (the "Old Fort"), -24, 30, 
31, 32. 45, 177, 203, 210. 

Mackinaw church, mission and school. 
46, 48, 49, 50, 135. 165, 172. 205, 
206. 

Mackinaw, straits of, 45, 146. '147. 

Madelaine island, 4. 11, 146 148. 151.^ 
152. 159, 233. 239. 240, 246, 253. 
258, 259. 

Madison, 56. 123, 194. 224 : conven- 
tion (of churches), 145. 

Madison county (Illinois), 182. 

Madison county (New York). 96^, 97. 

Mail routes in 1836. 224. 

Ma-ka-tau-me-she-kia-kiah, 189. 

Manhattan. 4. 73. 

Manitoulin islands, one of the. 3; is- 
land. 13. 

Manhattas, the, 73. 

Manitowoc. 184, 212, 224, 280. 

Mannawahkiah river. 121. 

Mann. Moody. 137. 

Manuel, a Negro- slave burned for 
witchcraft, 36. 

Manypenny. Commissioner G. W.. 170. 
235. 

Marcy, General R. B.. 205. I 

Marest, Gabriel. 18. 

Mary. Queen of England. 17. 

Marietta (Ohio), 1, 33-35, 38 ; settle- 
ment of, 98 ; first Congregational 
church of, 34. 

Marin, Perriere. 21. 24, 26. 113. 



EX. 

Marinette. 66. 

Marksman, Peter, 166. 

Marquette, Jacques^. 11. 12, 13, 14. 45, 

49, 127, 159, 211, 212, 278. 
Marquette (Michigan), 173. 
Marsh. Mrs. Eunice (Osmer), 140. 
Marsh, Rev. Cutting. 99, 111, 112, 

116. 120, 124-131, 134, 137-141. 

206, 218, 276, 277. 
Marsh, Rev. Catting, diary of, 118. 

121,123,125,139. 
Marsh. Sarah E., 276. 
Martin, Morgan Lewis, 64. 204. 212. 
Martindale, Miss H. S.. 271, 272. 
Martinque. 22. 

Mascoutins, 2, 3. 14. 17. 21. 210. 
Mason, Edward G., 36.': • 
Mason, John T., 56, 57, 120. 
Massachusetts. 1, 18, 85, 95. 98. 124. 

128. 143, 148, 156, 162, 205. 208, 

231, 233. 254, 275: first seal of, 69, 

70; general court of,i 84; historical 

society, 70, 75 77, 79 ; Indians. 11 ; 

Medical society, 33, 34, g9, 60, 65. 

69 : speaker of the House of, 92. . 
Massachusetts Bay, 33, 69. • 
Massawomekes, 55. 
Maumee. 116, 276; river. 126. 187. 
Maxwell, Thompson, 156. 
Mather. Cotton. 231 ; Increase. 5. 
May. Colonel John, 38. - 
Mayflower, the first, 32 ; the second, 1 . 
Mazzuchelli. Rev. Samuel. 208, 
Meadrille (Pennsylvania). 185. 
Mears, Rev. L. D.. 221, 224. 
Medell, Commissioner W., 109. 
Medical service of Odanah mission. 

165, 246. 
Memorial of Mrs. Harriet W. "Whcei- 

,*r. 229. et sq. 
Menasha, 19. 177. 
Menard, Rene, 7 10. 14. 61. 
Meiidell. Deacon Ezra, 218. 
Menomonee river. 203. 



IXDKX 



29") 



Menomonees, 21, 24, 31, 42, 53, 56-i son Gage, I). D., 139, 140, 144, 205. 
61, do. 06, 75, 88, 108, UO, 113,! Mills, J. T., 184, 280. 
119, 121, 128, 132, 143, 149, 190, | Milwaukee, 31, 36, 47, 67, 186, 209, 



210, 212 : their language, 75 ; their 
reservation, 142. 

Menonioneeville, 205. 

Merrell, Ex-Presiilent E. H., 256. 

Messitougas, the, 75. 

Messnier, Bishop S. J., 36. 

Metawa, the, 238. 

Meteoric shower of 1833, 128. 

Methodist Episcopal church, 278 ; its 
first church building in Wisconsin, 
123; mission ry society, 128; preach- 
ers, few in 1838, 220. 

Methodist or '• Orchard " party among 
the Oneidas, 123. 

Methxllst missions among the Wyan- 



212, 214, 216-218, 221, 224, 225, 
256; bay of, 211; convention (of 
churches), 145; county, 224; first 
church building in, 218; harbor, 212. 
Indians, 211; river, 60,121, 214;' 
churches of: First Presbyterian, 219, 
Grand Avenue Congregational, 67, 
213; Immanuel,47, 145; North Pres- 
byterian, 219; Plymouth, 219; news- 
papers of. Advertiser, Courier, 225 » 
Sentinel, 213 225; Wisco7ism, 225. 

Miner, D. I., 171; Rev. Jesse, 112, 
114-116, 149, 204, 278, 

Miners Free Press, 225. 

Miner, Lake Superior, 253. 



dots, 165; among the Ojibways, 153, Mineral Point, 185, 194, 199, 200, 



165, 166. ■ 

Methxlism, beginning of in Minnesota. 
166. 

Metox?n, Catherine, 111, 112', 128; 
J.hn, 26, 57, 58, 73, 109 112, 117, 
122, 123, 126 129, 131, 133, 134. 
139, 143, 145, 204; party of Stock- 
bridges, 107, 109-111, 197. 

Mexico, 3; Gulf of, 26, 207. 

Miami land-grant, 126; river, 18. 

Miamis, the, 22, 28. 107, 188. 

Michigan, 7, 9, 28, 39, 40, 46, 50, 54. 
148, 165, 173, 179, 187, 194, 253, 



224, 225. 
Mingoes, 55, 100. 
Mining, first in Wisconsin, 188. 
Mining region (Upper Mississippi-), 

191. See also Lead Mines, etc. 
Minister, first in Wisconsin, 202. 
Minneapolis, 15, 127. 
Minnesota, 5, 9, 18. 29, 134, 141, 155, 

156, 162, 163, 170, 171, 200, 255, 

275, 276; river, 176. 
Minnesota Historical Collections, Vol. 

VII, 134. 
Miro, Governor P^stavan, 14. . 



276, 277; [Indian] agency, 24:9 u Missionari/ Gazetteer, 4S; Jferald, 50, 

Fencibles, 41, Historical Collections} 62, 115, 124, 131. 

43; territorial legislature of, 200; Mississipin valley, 17, 18; rivers of, 42. 



trans-Mississippi part of, 196, 216. 
Michilimackinac (the region ; also the 

Jesuit mission and post north of the 

strait), 12, 13, 15, 28, 45, 159. 
Michilmackinac, straits of, 45, 146, 177. 
Military jwsts in Michigan, 39. 
Miller, Andrew, 129; Colonel John, 

201; Ebenezer, 76; Josiah W., 129; 

Samuel, 124, 129, 139, 142 ; Wes- 



Mississippi, rapids of the, 191, 192. 

Mississippi, the, 2-5, 9, 12, 14, 18, 20, 
22, 24-26, 28 35, 39 44, 47, 54*, 
65, 115, 127, 131, 132, 136, 139, 
145, 149, 155-157, 160, 163, 166- 
168, 176. 177, 184 189, 191, 192, 
194, 195, 198-201, 207, 210, 216, 
220,221, 224,272; various names 
of, 176. 



296 INDEX 

Missouri, 38, 184, 189, 216; territory 

of, 40, 216. 
Missouri, lead mines of, 191. 
Missouri river, 18, 39, 47, 127, 137, 

200, 216. 
Mitchell, James, John T., Samuel, 38. 
Mohawk river, the, 95 ; the valley, 4 
Mohawks, the, 4, 55. 62, 63, 68, 78, 

88, 89, 92 94 ; their language, 63, 

64, 68, 75, 122. 
Moheakumnut tribe, 278. 
Mohegan language. See Muh-he-ka 

ne-ew. 
Mohegans, 69, 73-75, 137. 
Moh-he-con-nuck, 143. 
Mokuks of birch-bark, 243. 
Monroe (Michigan), 116. 
Monroe, President, 56, 57. 
Monrong, , 211. 



Montauk, 69, 105. 

Montauk Indians, 68, 69 ; Occom's 

treatise on their language, 70. 
Montreal, 20, 21. 
Monument mountain, 83. 
Moor's (or Moore's) ''charity school" 

(Indian) 54, 67, 68, 140, 144. 
Moose Tail, Moo-zoo-jeele, Mo-zo-geede 

(Ojibway chief), 166, 278 279. 
Moraud, Captain Perriere. See Marin. 
Moravians and Moravian missions, 97, 

105, 106, 109. 
More, Joshua, 68. 
Moreau, a slave, 36. 
Morse, Jedidiah, D. D;, 47, 52-56, 60, 

143, 201 203. 
Morse, Richard Gary, 47 ; S. F. B., 47 
Mound builders, the, 221, 222. 
Mount Hope (Rhode Island) 69. 



140 142, 145, 212. See also Stock- 
bridges. 

Miih-lierka-ne-ok (history), 73, 143. 

Munsees, the, 54 56, 60, 73, 75, 100, 
107, 142 ; theii language, 75. 

Mushke sibi, the, 167. 

Mushkoosi (Indian word), 3. 

Muskingum river, 1. 

Musquakink, the, 16. 

Mutiny among Illinois volunteers, 199. 

Nadonoceronon, 3. 

Nadouessi (sioux), 12, 14, 55, 279. 

Nadowa and Nadowasie, 3. 

Nanticokes (hanticks), 69, 75. 

Narragansett Indians, 69, 73. 

Nash, Rev. Norman, 114, 202. 

Nashville, (Tennessee), 183. 

Nation, The, 33. 

National Board of Charities and Cor- 
rection, 27. 

Naunauchoovvuk, 88. 

Navarre, Henry of, 26. 

Navarino, 206. 

Neanders Church History, 253. 

Nebraska, 127, 185. 

Nee-koouts Hah-ta-kah, 175. 

Neenah, 177. 

Negro Slaver ij hi Wisconsin, 38. 

NeiU, Rev. ¥.. D., 9, 12, 147, 149, 277. 

Nelson, Rev. George W., 255. 

Nelson's post, 6; river, 41. 

Nendrol, Cant, 100. 

Netherlands (Holland). 4, 28. 

New Albany, 222. 

Newark (New Jersey), 16. 

New Britain (Connecticut), 52. 

New Brunswick, 75. 

Newburyport, presbytery of, 116. 

New Connecticut, 46. 



Muh-he-ka-ne-ew language, 74, 125 

specimens of, 90, 125; booklets in,' Newell, Harriet, 270 

104, 124, 125. 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, the, 73 77, 85, 86, 

88, 91, 94 98, 105, 107-109, 113, 

114, 120, 129, 131, 132, 135, 139, 



pNew England, 12, 19, 26, 27, 33, 35, 
37, 46, 62, 67 70, 74-76, 82, 88, 
136, 168, 180, 181 ; New England 
homes, 233, 235. 



INDKX. 



2<)7 



New Eiijtrland, the town and town nieet-| Nicollet, Jean N., 160; creek called by 



ings of, 32, 125. 



his name, 155. 



New England emigrants and eungrat-l Niles. Mrs. Mary P2.. 108; Mai-y West, 
ing companies, 33, 98, 199, 215, 222. M. U., 108. 



New England history, 65, 97. 
yeir E)i(jla)id M<((jiizine, 11. 
Newspapers (Wisconsin) in 1836, 225. 
New Stockbridge. 97, 99, 101, 104, 
114, 124, 126, 128. 



Ninham, Daniel (ov Abraham), 96. 
Nipegons, the, 75. 

Non-glaciated area of Wisconsin, 187. 
Nonnekagon, Lake, 4. 
Norridgewock (New P^ngland), 88. 



New France, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 16, 19,' North America, 1, 6, 13, 23, 26, 27, 



20, 24, 26, 27, 37, 175, 176, 178. 
Netrhall's Sketches of Iowa, 35. 
Newhall, Horatio, M. D., 191, 192, 208- 
New Hampshire, 45, 68, 140, 144, 155. 

193. 
New Haven, 46, 47, 79, 81-83. 
Newington (Connecticut), 91. 



29, 30, 54, 90, 175; Indians of, 87, 

88, 90. 
North America, Travels throuyh the 

Interior Fart of, 30, 75, 177. 
North American Indians, 109, 137. 
Northampton, 76. 
North Dakota, 39, 163, 276. 



New Jersey, 76, 87 ; college of (Prince-; Northern Missionary society of New 



ton), 62, 77, 95. 
New London (Connecticut), 74. 
Neic Testament (Ojibway translation), 

164, 165. 
Newton, Abel D., 154, 161, 208. 
New Orleans, 186, 191. 
New Orleans (steamboat), 42. 



York, 47. 49, 63. 
Northern Pacific railway, 155. 
Northway, Isaac G., 221. 
Northwest Fur company, 12. 
iVorthwest Territory, 1, 32-34, 37 39, 

55, 124; the northwest territory, 48. 
North Wisconsin academy, 255, 256. 



New York, 16, 47, 54. 55, 59-61, 63- North Wisconsin Home Missionary 

67, 70,71, 73,76, 78,80, 83, 85, . society, 256. 

93, 94, 96 98, 100, 101. 105, 106, Norwich (Connecticut), 68. 

108-110, 112-114. 116, 123, 124,i Not-ta-ways, the, 56. 

128, 142, 143, 148, 157, 193, 203,| Nova Scota, 75. 

204, 217, 224, 275; enigratiou from,| Noyelle, Sieur de, 22. 

199. I Oak Point, 4, 5. 

New York City, 33, 49, 194, 215, 235,' Oberhn, 162, 163, 249, 276; college, 



270. 



46; theology, 163. 



New York Indians," 52, 55 58, 60, 06A'e?v?«<t07W, President Edwards's,. 74. 



64, 113, 119-121. 

New York, Methodist P^pisco})al con- 
ference of, 66. 

New York Observer, the, 47, 163. 

Niagara Falls, 30, 279; fort near, 34, 
92, 177. 

Niantic (C>)nneticut), 69. 

Nichols, Rev. Cvrus, 220. 

Nicolet, Jean, l' 2, 3, 26, 52, 21(>. 



Occom, Rev. Samson, 62, 63, 67-72. 

74,. 91, 94, 97, 98, 101. 
Odanah, 4, 167 173, 235, 240-242, 

244, 247, 248, 250, 256, 257; reser. 

vation, 249. 
Odgen (Holland) Land company, 55, 

60. 61, 98. 
Odugaumeeg, 146. 
Ogden, John, 218. 



29S 



INDEX. 



Ogilvie, Rev. John, 64. 
Ogle county (Illinois), 196. 



Ordway, Rev. Moses, 218, 219. 
Ore-bearing lands, sale of, 191, 200. 



Oglethorpe, GeneralJames Edward, 33.' Oriskany Creek (New York), 6 



Ohio, 1, 37, 38, 46, 109, 126, 134, 166, 
171, 182,232, 276; first constitu- 
tion of, 37 ; Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan and Wisconsin, 29, 35. 

Ohio company, the, 33, 35. 

Ohio river, 33, 185, 210. 

Ohnaquango (New York), 103. 

Ojibway missions, distances between 



Oshkosh, a Menomonee chief, 57, 59. 

Ostrander, Rev. J. F., 217, 219. 

Oswald, Richard (British commission- 
er), 34. 

Oswego, military post of, 34. 

Ottawa river, 1, 2, 4. 

Ottawas (Outaouacs), 5, 7, 11 13, 21, 
52, 75, 126, 146, 276. 



the, 167; mission at Sandy Lake,' Otis (Massachusetts), 209. 



129. See also La Pointe, Odanah, 
etc., and names of missionaries. 

Ojibways, the, 4, 7, 13, 21, 42, 48. 49, 
66, 146, 147, 152, 153, 161, 165- 
168, 170, 186, 222, 233, 254, 256, 
272-276 ; their language, 75 ; Testa- 
ment therein, 164, 165, 172, 175. 

Ojibways, Warren's history of the, 4. 

Old South church, Boston, 94. 

Old White Church, The, 216, 218. 

Olin. Nelson, 216; Thomas, 216. 

Oliver Newbury (steamer), 130. 

Oneida Castle, village of, 63 ; county, 
96 ; institute, 140 ; lake, 63. 

Oneida (New York), 98-100, 103, 107; 
(Wisconsin), 65 ; Oneida West, 66. 

Oneidas, the, 55, 56, 62-64, 68, 69, 
71, 92, 93, 96, 98, 100 103, 107, 
108, 205, 224; certain "delegates" 
of, 64; Oneidas of Wisconsin, 57, 
60, 61,65-67,94, 113, 120, 123, 



Ouinipigou (Winnebagoes). 2. 
Ouisconsin river, the, 41, 42, 177, 191; 

Territory, 216. See also Wisconsin. 
Oiitagamies, the. 16-23. 42, 110, 113, 

176, 188, 189 ; their language, 75. 

See also Foxes. 
"Outlet of Big Foot," 223. 
Pacific ocean, 14, 47, 66, 95, 123. 
Paris [France], 6, 27; treaty of [in 

1763, 26, 27,176; (Kentucky), 184. 

Parker, , ordination of, 82. 

Parkman, Francis, 11, 30. 

Parsons, William, Indian agent, 144. 

Parton, James, 173, 273. 

Paul, Moses, 70, 74. 

Pearsons, Daniel Kimball, 222, 279. 

Pearson, A. H., 256. 

Pecatonica (Illinois), 194. 

Peet, Rev. Stephen, 185, 220. 

Pekitanoui (the Missouri), 18. 



Pembina, 163, 186. 
128, 129, 132, 189, 205, 224; their| Penu, William, 7, 33. 
early settlements here, 64, 122, 123, Pennsylvania, 32, 37, 75, 86, 97, 105, 



129; capital punishment among, 
137 ; their reservation, 60, 61. 

Onion river (Wisconsin), 11. 

Onohoghwage, (Oughquauga), 93, 94. 

Onondagas, 4, 55, 106. 

Onondaga (New York), 203. 

Ontario, jjrovince of, 29, 94, 96. 

Ordinance of 1787, 34, 35, 37, 38, 
193. 



109, 185 
Penobscot river, 73 ; Indians, 73, 75- 
Pepin, 176; lake, 4. 19. 176, 187. 
Pequods, the, 69, 73. 
Perkins, Lieutenant Joseph, 40, 42. 
Permoussa. f. n Outagamie cliief, 17. 
Perrot, Nicholas, 9, 13, 14, 19, 134. 

176, 187. 
Perry, Arthur Latham, D. D., 84, 108. 



INDEX. 



2<J9 



Peters, Samuel Andrews, LL. D., (tory 
clergyman), 30, 181, 201; Secre- 
tary Absolom, 193 ; Ziba T., 142. 

Petit Marais, 153. 

Phelps, Oliver, 98; William, 134. 

Philadelphia, 7, 33, 56, 178, 186. 

Pierce, President Franklin, 212, 255; 
J. S., 212; Jonathan, 226. 

Pigeon river (Minnesota), 147, 156. 

Pillagers, the (an Ojibway tribe), 160. 

PiUing, J. C, 124, 126, 167. 1 

Pike, General Z. M., 178. 

Pine Bend, 133. 

Pinkney, Colonel Ninian, 202. 

Pioneer History of Milwaukee, 215. 

Pioria's Fort, 41. 

Pittsiield (Massachusetts), 95, 233. 

Pittsburg, 33, 38, 185 ; synod of, 182. 

Platteville, 194, 218, 224, 225. 

Pleyels Hymn, 190. 

Plymouth, 1, 18, 35, 38 ; colony, 33, 
38 ; rock, 38. 

Poets of the Church, 72. 

Pokeguma lake and mission, 160 162? 
167, 275. 

Ponchartrain, 18 ; (Fort) 45. 

Porlier, Jacques, 203. 

Portage, Fox-Wisconsin, 41, 42, 117' 
190, 207 ; road at, 210 ; the place, 133. 

Porter, George B., 60; Rev. Jeremiah, 
152-154, 185, 205, 206, 209, 210, 
280 ; Miss Mary, 185. 

Potosi, 188 194. 

Pottawatomies, 118, 146, 196, 197, 213. 

Powles, Henry, 57. 

Prairie du Chien, 28, 30, 31, 41, 42, 44, 
113, 133-135, 149, 166, 176-186, 
188, 189, 194, 199, 203, 205, 207, 
213, 224, 280; Indian agent at, 39, 
40,43; duSac, 197. 

Pratt (Wisconsin), 255. 

Prentice, 274. 

Presbyterians (in time of the Revolu- 
tion), 32 ; board of foreign missions. 



47, 148,149. 157,172: of home 
missions, 157, 182; church, reunion 
of, 172; directory for worship, 135. 

Proces-oerbal, by Daumont, 13; by La 
Salle, 176; by Perrot, 14, 176. 

Prophetstown (Illinois), 196. 

Putnam, Rufus, 35, 37. 

Quakers, the, 26, 97. 

Quan-au-kaunt, Joseph, 112. 

Quebec, 1, 2, 11, 19, 27, 29, 186. 

"Quebec act," 29, 37. 

Quebec, province of, 29, 37. 

Queen Anne's war, 75 ; Indian chief's 
visit to England during her reign, 79. 

"Quelles hures !" origin of "Huron," 2. 

Quinette, a Frenchman, 213. 

Quinney, Austin E., 109, 122, 137, 
139, 142, 143, 145. 

Quinney, Electa W., 66, 115, 128. 

Quinney, John, 104, 125. 

Quinney, John W., 57, 73, 75, 112, 
113,116, 119,121, 122, 137, 139, 
143. 

Quinney, Joseph, 128. 

Quinney, Margaret, 128. 

Racine, 213, 220, 224. 

Radisson, .Sieur, 2-8, 11, 12, 15, 16, 
61, 176, 210, 277, 278. 

Ragueneau, Paul, 4. 

Railway ftrst to cross Wisconsin, 186; 
nearest in 1836, 224. 

Ramsey, Governor Alexander, 163. 

Randolph (Vermont), 222. 

Recollects (RecoUets), 15, 19. 

Red Bird, Winnebago chief, 190. 

Red Cliff reservation, 249. 

Red Dog, Sioux chief, 150. 

Red Lake (Minnesota), 151, 162, 163, 
274,275,279; reserve, 267. 

Red river of the North, 186 ; of Wis- 
consin, 142, 143. 

Red Springs, 143 ; Sea, 185. 

Reed, Harrison, 218. 

Reidsville (New Yoik), 73. 



300 

Representatives, House of, 48. 
Reve, Rev. Frederic, 205. 



I.\1»EX. 

Russia, 70 ; Russians and Cossacks, 42. 
Ryan, Colonel Samuel, 204. 



Revival at the Fond du Lac mission; Sabbath begun on Saturday evening, 



238. 

Revolution and revolutionary army and 
war, 23, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 42, 46, 
47, 50, 62, 63, 68, 94 97, 99, 106, 
147 ; events of in the Wisconsin re- 
gion, 177, 210, 211. 

Reynolds, Governor John, 196, 197. 

Rhine, the river, 134. 

Rhode Island, 69. 

Richards, Charles H., wife of, 56. 

Richmond (Virginia), 7. 

Riggs, A. L., D. D., 150 ; Stephen Re- 
turn, Rev., 162, 166 168. 

Riei Kulm, 272. 



141 ; dishonored by tyranny, 226 ; 
liow honored at Odanah, 241 ; at 
Stockbvidge, 136: instances of Sab. 
bath-keeping, 1. 217 ; early Sabbath- 
schools in Wisconsin, 181, 202, 204; 
in 1836, 225. 

Sacs (Sanks), 16, 17, 19 24, 30, 75, 
110. 133,134, 175,188, 196 199 

Sacs and Foxes, 132, 134, 188 190, 
195; Sauk village, 22. 

Saginaw, 16. 

St.. Anthony, falls of. 15, 149, 279. 

St. Antoine, Post of, 176. 

St. Augustine, quotation from, 111. 



River Indians, 75, 76, 79; Nation, 136.' St. Augustine [Florida], 35 



See also Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. 
Roberts, Bishop, 221; Sidney, 221. 
Robertson, Samuel. 211. 
Robinson, Mark, 215. 
Rockford, 194. 
Rock Island (Illinois), 43, 192, 194; 

the island, 133. 
Rock river, 24, 189,195, 196, 224; 

valley of, 200; conference, 215. 
Rock St. Louis, 22. 
Rockton (Illinois), 194. 
Rocky Mountains, the, 40, 47, 162. 
Rogers, Major Robert, 45 ; Mrs. Anna 

S., 269, 270. 
Rolette, Joseph, 41. 
Rolfe, Benjamin, 19. 
Roman Catholicism, 29. 
Rome (Italy), 159 ; church of, 26, 65, 
Roosevelt, Theodore, 32. 
Root, Erastus, 56, 57, 120, 121. 

Roulette, Mr. , 181. 

Round Table, (Beloit college). 193. 

Roxbury (Wisconsin), 197. 

Roy, Secretary J. E., 256, 270, 271. 

Rublee. F. M., 225. 

Russell, Miss Caroline, 115. 



St. Clair, Governor Arthur. 38, 106 

St. Clair river, 46. 

St. Croix, portage, river and valley, 18, 

156, 157, 160, 187. 
St. Francis [Canada], Indians of, 75. 
St. Francis, Xavier, mission of, 211 

212. 
St. Ignatius, mission of, 12, 45. 
St. Jacobs, J. B., 203. 
St. Joseph. (Walhalla. North Dakota), 

276; St. Joseph's river, 187. 
St. Louis, 40 43; called Pencour, 31 ; 

design of capturing, 31. 
St. Mary's, treaty of, 109. 
St. Mary's river (of Georgia), 29; (of 

Michigan), 51. 
St. Peter, portal of [Arched Rock], 7. 
St. Peter's river, 41, 176, 192. 

St. Pier, . 211. 

St. Pierre, Rev. Paul de, 180. 

St. Sel>astian, fortress of, 42. 

Salem, 81. 

Salisbury (England), 269. 

Sandusky river, 165. 

Sandv Lake [Minnesota], 129, 156, 

158, 167, 168. 239, 275. 



San Francisco, 180. 
Santa Fe, 35. 

Santee Normal school. 150. 
Saratoga, 126. 



INDEX. 

Shawano, 144 ; Lake, 142. 
Shawano witchtinder. a. 105, 110. 
Shea, John G., 7, 180. 
' Shehoygan, 212, 214, 225. 



;{()1 



Sasquahannah (Susquehanna river), 87. Sheldon, George, 05. 

Satterlee. R. S., M. D., 205, 200, 209;. Sheldon's Hlatory of Mlchlyaa, 45. 

Mrs. R. S., 205. 206. 
Sauk county, 196, 207. 
Saulteaux (Sauteurs), 146. 



Sheridan, Mrs. General P. H., 203. 
Sherman, General, son of, 14. 
Shonandon (an Oneida chief), 103. 



Ssult St. Marie, 146-148, 152-154, Shores, E. A., 255, 258; Mrs. E. A., 258. 



166, 209. 
Sault St. Louis (Canada), 65. 
Savannah (Illinois). 194. 
Scattekooks, the, 88. 
Schenck, Rev. Dr. A. V., 123. 
Schipicoten, 220. 



Shunkasha (Sioux chief). 150. 
Signijirxince of the Frontier in Ameri- 
can History^ 95. 
Simcoe, Lieutenant Colonel J. (t., 96. 
Simsbury (Connecticut), 209. 
Sinclair, Patrick, 31, 46, 177. 211. 



Schoolcraft, H. R., 3, 7. bo^ 125, 146, Sinope (Asia Minor). 226. 



148, 153 155, 166, 186; island, 155. 
Schools, early, in Wiscon.sin, 115, 138, 

181, 202, 203, 225; school code of 

Wisconsin, 225. 
Scotland, 11, 63. 68, 80, 123, 124, 128. 
Scott, General Winfield, 199. 
Scott's Cominentary, 110, 197. 

Scuranis, , 103. 

Secombe, — ■ — , ordination of, 82. 



Sinsinawa Mound (Grant county), 199. 

Sioux, the, 3-5, 11, 12, 14. 17, 19 21, 
41, 42, 53, 127, 132, 135, 141, 146, 
149, 161, 163, 166, 168, 172, 175, 
185, 199, 238, 272, 275, 279; out- 
break in Minnesota, 171. 

Siskoinsin, 210. 

Six Nations, 55, 64, 74, 92, 93, 98, 103, 
104; their language, 75. See also 
Five Nations (2, 55), and Iroquois. 

Skah-kah-wah-mee-kunk, 4. 

Skatekook (now Sheffield), 76, 77, 82, 
83, 85, 88. 



Selkirk colony, 186. 

Sell, William, 220. 

Seminole war, 179. 

Senecas, the, 55, 62, 66. 

Sergeant, John, 76-97, 99, 104, 105, Skenectetee (Schenectady), 94. 

108, 109, 111, 117, 124, 125, 135,| Skinner, Miss Persis, 135. 

14.5; the younger, 54, 60, 90,95, 98, i Slavery, decree permitting, 175. 

99 101,104,106-108,111,112,114,^ Slavery in Jo Daviess county, 193. 

124, 141 ; the third, 56, 90, 110, 121. Slingerland, Jeremiah, 140-142 ; Mrs 



Seymour, J. L., 158, 161, 275. 
Shackford, Captain John, 193. 
Shagawaumekong Point, 146. 
Shake- Rag (Mineral Point), 200. 
Shake shingles, 214, 223. 
Shantytown, 115, 202, 204, 205. 
Shaw, Colonel John, 40, 210. 



Sarah Irene, 142. 
Small-pox, epidemic of, 170, 246. 
Smelters, early, in lead region, 192. 
Smith, Brigadier-General E. K., 52. 
Smith, Colonel Joseph Lee, 52, 202. 
Smith, Henry, 189. 198. 
Smith, John, 114. 



Shawanese Indians (Showanoos), 75, Smith, Richard, 235. 

84, 87, 99. Smith, Colonel T. A.. 178. 



302 INDEX. 

Smithfield. 122, 123. 

"Snake Hollow." 188. 

Snakp river. 275. 

Snow, de])th of, in Northern Wiscon- 
sin, 245. 

Socialism, experiment in, 144. 

Society for Promoting Christian Know- 
ledge. 63, 99: for propagating the 
Gospel among the Indians in Noi'thj 
America, 69, 78 ; for propagating! 
the Gospel in Foi'eign Parts, 69, 78; 
for propagating the Gospel among 
the Indians (Boston), 104. 

South Carolina. 67; Sonth Dakota, 39; 
South Kaukauna, 60, 66, 110, 114. 

116, 279; South Sea, 14. 

Southport, 224. 

Spain. 14, 27, 31 ; His Catholic Majes- 
ty of, 27 ; the- Spaniards, 34. 

Spanish and Illinois country, 31. 
Spencer, D. B., 162-164, 171 ; Mrs. 

D. B., 163, 164. 
Spencer, Secretai'v John C., 98. 
Spicer, Rhoda, 171. 
Spirit mediums. Indian, 146. 
Spooner, Miss Abbie, 234, 245, 267. 
Sprague, Henry. 73. 
Springfield, 75, 77, 80, 126. 
Spring Prairie, 223. 
"Stabber,"' the. Sac chief, 133. 
Stambaugh, Samuel C, 120, 121. 
Standardy the, (of Chicago). 72. 
Starved Rock, 22. 
State church, evil done by, 30. 
Statesburg, 60, 113 116, 122, 127- 

129, 135. 138, 144, 279. 
Stevens, Comly, 57. 
Stevens, Rev. Jedidiah Dwight, 49, 50, 

117, 118, 123, 127, 130, 135. 148^ 
151,156, 182.185, 210; Mrs. J. 



: Stockbridge (England), 85. 

j Stockbridge Indians, 54-57, 60, 61, 
66, 67, 70, 71, 73-75, 84. 94-101. 
104-111, 113, 117, 120, 121, 123. 
129-133. 136 142, 145, 148, 149, 
189. 197, 276, 278 ; Congregational 
churches among them, 70. 97, 98, 
107,108, 111, 114. 115, 128, 130, 

I 138, 139, 144, 145. 157; tithing. 

j men in, 117. 141; Methodist Epis- 

! copal church, 140, 144; Presbyte- 
rian, 144. See also Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. 
Prohibitory laws by and for, 84. 195. 

' Interesting characters, ses Aupau- 
mut, Konkapot. Metcxen, Quinney. 
Also Pau-quau-nau-peet. 90 ; Poh- 
quon-nop-peet. 112; Pooh-poo-nuc, 
77, 81; their language, i^ee Muh-he- 
ka-ne-ew ; an interpretation by Mrs. 

! Pendleton, 109. 

j Stockbridge Indians. White river band 
of, 107, 109 112. 197: at Piqua 
(Ohio), 109; their churchy 107, 109, 
128; they come to Wisconsin, 111. 

> Stockbridge (Massachusetts), 74, ^o- 
87. 89, 91 97, 104. 124. 162. 278; 
chui-ch of, 77,88; History of, see 
Jones, P^lecta. 
vStockbridge reservations; in Massachu- 
setts. 76, 85; in New York, 96; 
in Indiana. 107, 109; in Wisconsin 
(on Fox river), 56; in Calumet 
county, 60, 137, 138; in Shawano 
county, 142. 144. 145. 

; Stockbridge (Wisconsin. Calumet coun- 
ty), 73, 110, 132. 135, 139-141, 
143, 209. 218; church of, 145; mis- 
sion-house at. 135 ; (Shawano coun- 
ty), 143; church of. 144. 
Stockbridge and West Stockbridge, 85. 



D., 129, 130; Miss Lucy C, 135 ;i Stoddard, Colonel John, 76. 



Miss Sabina, 158, 275. 
Stillman, Major Isaiah, 196, 197. 
Stillwater, 155. 



Stonington. 69. 
Storm, iSliss Helen C. 
Strauni, Louis. 134. 



110. 



iStveet, General J. M., 182, 184. 
Strong. Hon. Moses M., 2-i. 190, 200 
Stuart, Robert. r)0, 122; Mr 
Sturgeon bay, 13. 
Suffrage in Wisconsin, 226. 
Sullivan. Captain John, 40^ 



INDKX. m'{ 

Titswoi'th, Rev. Judson, 256. 
fobbogans, a Christmas gift, 243. 
R, 51. Todd. John. 36. 

I Todd, Mary (Mr.s. Lincoln). 36. 
I Tories, clerical, in the Revolution, 32. 
Toronto (Canada), 164. 



Sumner, Senator Charles, letter of, 253.. Total abstinence among Indians, 83, 
Sunday, John, 165. ; 130.208; total abstinence churches, 

Sunday-school, first at Milwaukee, 214;! 130, 206. 

first at Prairie du Chien, 181; firstj Tounchv, John, 166. 



in Wisconsin. 202. 
Sunderland. Rev. Byron, D. D.. 219. 
Suniise river. 150. 151. 
Superior, Lake, 258,265, 273,274.275. 
Surrender of Red Bird, 190. 
Susquehanna, 93. 
Tanner. Dr. H. B.. 52, 116, 279. 
Tanner, John. 164. 
Talon, Jean Baptiste. 13. 
Tatepahqsect, 105. 106, 110. 
Taylor county, 9. 
Taylor. General Zachary, 43, 134, 178.. 

179.184,199,208,280. 
Teachers, early, at Green Bay, 203. 
Tecumseh. 106; war, 107. 
Temperance: first convention in Wis-i 

consin, 128; first society here, 128; 

early work, at Prairie du Chien, 184.1 
Tennessee, 49. 183, 185. • 

Test river. 85. j 

Texas. 166. 185, 207. I 

Thames (Connecticut) river. 67. ' 



Touslee, Waters, 221. 

Towles, N., 57. 

Town, Joseph, 157. 

Town systeni of local government, 226. 

Tracy, Jean Baptiste, 10. 

Travels throughout North Ame-rica, 
30, 75, 176. 

Travels, by President Dvvight, 126. 

Treat, S. B.. 168. 

Treaty, of 1725, 75; of Paris (1763), 
26, 176; (1783). 28, 200; with the 
Six Nations, 104; with the Sacs asd 
Foxes (1804), 188 ; Ghent, 43, 201 
of St. Mary's. 109 ; with the Me 
nomonees (Little Butte des Morts) 
57, 113; (Stambaugh), 60, 212. 
with the Winuebagoes, 149, 213; 
witii the Pottawatomies, 213; of 
Buffalo Creek, 61. 

Trempealeau, 134, 176; county, first 
settlement of whites therein, 134. 

Trumansburg (New York), 108. 



Thanksgiving, early observance of in TrumbuU, J. H., 7 



Wisconsin, 128. 136. 
Thayendanegea. See Brant, Joseph. 
Thiebeau. Joseph, 222. 
Thomas, Lieutenant Martin, 191 . 
Thowhusquh, Esther, 128. 



Triumphant Democracy, 29, 33. 
Turkey, Asiatic, 226. 
Turkey, Rufus. 56. 
Turner. Professor F. J., 13, 95. 
Turtle, town of, 222. 



Three Rivers (Canada), 2. 4. 5, 10, 203. Tuscaroras, the. ho. 56. 62, 67, 92, 93, 

Throckmorton, Captain John. 198. 101 103. 

Thwait«s, R. G., 4, 103, 180, 197, 210.i Tattle, Chauncey, 222. 

Tigris riv«r, the, 216. Twiggs. General D. E., 207; Mrs. D. 



*' riken<l«roga,"' 94. 

Tithing-men in Wisconsin. 135. 141. 



I E., 208. 

1 Uhhaunnowwaunmut, 56. 



304 



INDEX. 



Umpachene, Stockbridge chief, 75-77, i Wabash river, 18, 28, 31, 187. 



Wah-pa-sha (Sioux o.hief), 135. 
Wales, 69 ; Prince of, 90. 
Walhalla (North Dakota). 163. 
Walker, Rev. Jesse, 154, 220. 



81, 85. 
Umpachene, Johtohkiihkoonart, 81. 
Unhaunauvvaunniet, Solomon, 278. 
Union college, 74. 
Union, the, 32, 33, 40, 54, 55, army Wallingford (Connecticut), 209. 

of, 67, 72; the united colonies, 69. Walworth county, 223, 224. 
United Foreign Missionary society, j Wappecommekkoke, 105. 

48, 49. I Wappinackies, the, 59, 120. 

United States, the, 16, 23, 27, 32, 33,| Wapsipunicon river, 22. 

35, 39, 43, 50, 61, 96, 106, 113,! ^^r of a Hundred Years, the first, 1 ; 



121, 132, 226; government, 34, 40,' 

42, ,47, 55-57, 60. 104, 108, 109,! 

129, 135, 165 : court of claims, 61,1 

67 ; army, 46. < 

Un-paun-nau-waun-nutt, Solomon, 112. 

Upper Canada, province of, 28, 41, 

153; first governor of. 96. j 

Upper Lakes region, 17, 25. 27, 43. 

Upper Mississipjn, the, 28, 44, 110; 

region, 25, 40. j 

Upper Pennisula, Michigan, 40, 45, 48. i 

Utica, 67, 114, 156, 224, 275, 277. i 

Vaccination, by missionaries, 246. j 

Vandalia (Illinois), 193. j 

Van der Sauven, Rev. H., 180. 



the second, 1, 17 ; of the French 
with the Iroquois, 2; King William's, 
17 ; incident of, 65 ; Queen Anne's, 
75 ; Inter-colonial, 75 ; following 
Pontiac's conspiracy, 45; in North- 
west Territory, 29, 106; in Eu- 
rope, 28, (Napoleonic), 42 ; against 
Tecumseh, 106,107; of 1812,39- 
43, 46 ; of secession, 171. See also 
French and Indian, Revolution, and 
the names of various Indian tribes, 
Outagamies, Sioux, Winnebagoes, 
etc. Also names of chiefs, as Black 
Hawk, etc. 
Ward, J. Q. A., 235. 



Vaudreuil, Governor-General Philippe! Ware, Jr., Henry, 47. 



de Rigaud. 18, 45. 

Vaughn, Mrs. M. E., 268, 269. 

Verwyst, Rev. Chrysostom, 8, 9, 159. 

Vermont, 48, 222, 233, 251, 276. 

Vesuvius (steamboat). 42. 

Vieau, Andrew J., 212 ; Jacques, 210, 
212, 213 ; Louis, 213. 

Vieux Desert, Lac, 9. 

ViUiers, Sieur de, 22. 

Vincennes (Indiana), 32. 

Virginia, 7, 32, 34, 37, 38, 56; gover- 
nor of, 32, 36. 

Virginia (steamboat), 185. 

Viroqua (Wisconsin), 26. 

Voltaire, 27. 



Warren, J. H., 148, 180. 

Warren, Lyman Marcus, 49, 151, 157, 

180, 222, 256, 275. 
Warren, T. A., 148. 
Warren, William Whipple, 4, 7, 48, 

146 148, 151, 152, 159, 167. 
Warrior (steamboat), 198. 
Warsaw (^Indiana), 251. 
Washburn (Wisconsin), 4, 11. 
Washburne, Hon. E. B., 31 ; Mrs. E. 

B., 31; Hempstead, ex-Mayor of 

Chicago, 31. 
Washington, General, 32, 34, 39, 96, 

98. 106.125, 126. 149, 169; his 

army, 96. 



Voyaging on Lake Superior, 152; first Washington, city of, 58, 60, 116, 120, 
thereon by British and colonists, 156.; 121, 148, 17i, 212, 249, 250. 



INDEX. 30.") 

Watts. Dr. Isaac, 124. Wlieelock, I). D., Rev. Eleazar, 67. 

Wan-bun, 50. j AVhipple. Bishop, H. B., 162, 166. 

Wauhakeeshik (Black Hawk's "pio-i Whistler, Major William, 190. 



phet"), 195, 196, 199. 



Whitaker. Rev. Nathaniel, 68. 



Waukesha, 209, 215, 218, 221; calledj White Earth river, 39, 200. 



Prairieville, 209. 
Waukegan, 221 . 

Wau-nau-con (J. W. Quinney), "I'S. 
Waupaca, 277. 
Wauwatosa, 279. 
Wawauquekon, 56. 
Wayne, "Mad" Anthony, 28, 106. 
Webster's Dicfionari/, 36. 
We-kau (an Indian murderer), 190 
Wellington, Lord, 42. 

Wendell, Colonel , 83. 

Weslev, John, 32. 



White mountains (New Hampshire), 33. 

White Plains (New York), 96. 

White river and region (Indiana), 55, 

105, 107. Ill; (Wisconsin), 240. 
Whiteside. General Samuel, 197. 
Whitewater, 276. 

Whitford, Superintendent W. C., 14. 
Whitney, A. W., 156; Mr. and Mrs. 

, 122; Prof. H. M., 269; Mrs. 

M. A., 115, 116. 
Whittlesev creek, 4. 



Wilcox, Major D. L., 154; Mrs., 205. 
West, Stephen, D. D., 95, 99; Ed- William III., 1: and Mary, 17, 278. 

ward, 225, 279; H. S., M. D., 108. William, the Silent, 1. 197." 
West. Winning of the, 32. Williamslturg, 36. 

Western Evangelical Missionary socie- Williams college, 84, 90, 108. 



ty, 163. 
Western Historical company, 213. 
Western posts, 34; states, 33, 34. 
AVestern Reserve association, 163. 
Westfall, •, 137. 



Williamson. T. S., 132--134. 

Williams. Eleazar, 55, 57, 60, 63-66. 
68, 75, 107, 108. 114. 119, 122, 127, 
202, 205; Ephraim, 92, 93; Eunice, 
65; Rev. Dr. Stephen, 76, 77, 80; 
Rev. John, {\o. 76; Rev. William of 
HatHeld, 78, 86. 

Wilson, Vice-President Heniy, 50. 



AVestfield (Massachusetts), 77, 80. 

West Hartford (Connecticut), 209. 

W^est Hills (New York), 98. 

West Indies, 22, 29; markets of, 33. Windham association, the, 68. 

W^estminster abbey, 1; assembly, 104; Winnebago convention, 145, 255; 

catechism, 92. county. 25; Rapids, 24, 25; war, 

West Point academy, 154. the. 113, 186, 189, 197. 

West Springfield (Massachusetts), 76. Winnebago lake and region. 19, 24, 
Wheeler, C E., 269; Miss Hattie, 258, 41, 60, 72, 121, 142, 144, 145. 

259, 261. 271 ; Miss Julia, 170, 246, Winnebagoes, 2, 14, 19, 21, 41, 42, 53, 

252, 253; Mrs. Harriet Wood, 165. 56-60, 75, 113. 118, 119, 121, 132, 

229, 231, 233 235, 238-240, 242 i 149, 175, 177. 183, 188, 190, 196, 

244, 246-250, 252, 253-274, 280; 198, 199,208, 213; their language, 

her covenant, 236; Rev. E. P., 4, 11, 56, 75, 177. 

147, 229, 254, 256, 259, 260, 270, Winnepeg. 156, 276. 

279, 280; Rev. L. H., 165, 167- Winona, 135. 

173, 233, 234, 238 242, 244-252; Winsdor (New York). 93. 

Leonard, 170, 280; \\ . H., 175. Winston, Richard, P:sq., 36. 



306 I Sly EX. 



Winthvoi,e,A(lam,Esq., 79; John, 33. Wisconsin river, the 1 9 16 22 24 
Wisconsin, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7. 9, 10, 14, 19, j 25, 30, 133. 149, 17(i 186, ]'87 'l9o' 
21, 24, 26-28, 30, 31, 33, 35, 37 I 207, 210. 224 
40, 42, 44, 48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, Wisconsin Puritrn the 2^3 
58, 60 61, 67, 72, 88,90, M,^l, Wisconsin State HisiorLl Society, 
98, 100, 108, 110-114, 123-125, Proceed Inys for im2 38 45 
128,134, 136,139, 141,142, lU,\wisconsln Territory, Hlst^-y of, 19(». 
14o, 157, 170, 171, 176, 189, 199. Wisconsin, the, 225 
2'r"^'4^' ''''''" 226,263,|w,tcheraft, .n Britain. F.an.e. Ger- 

tory, 89, 200; non-glaciated area in I 36; deaths for, in Illinois, 36; Maior 
189; pioneers of, 65, 225, 226;] Powell's statement, 36 
presbytery of, 219; legislatures of, iWnalitukook, 76, 82, 83. 85. 
32,200, 278; first mining in, 188 ;' JT'^olf river, 142. 

miners raise company in Black Hawk 'Wood, , 233. 

war, 197; early schools in, 66. 115, jWoodbridge,' Timothy, 77-79 81 83 
151, 181, 203, 225, 279, 280; uni- 1 87, 93, 94, 108. 
versity of 223; first Roman Catholic ! Woodstock (Vermont) 48 
missionary in, see Menard; first Pro- IWoopikamikunk ( Wapikannkunk) 105 
testant missionary, se6; Nash; Indians j Wright, A. 0., 27; 8. G., 163, 276 
of,see, Menomonees, Winnebagoes, Wtanshekaunhtukko, 88.' 
Ojibways, Pottawattomies, etc.; wars. ;Wyandots, 2. 165. 
in, see Black Hawk, Outagamies, etc.; I Wyoming, massacre at, 68. 
State historical society, portrait gall- Xavier, St. Francis, Mission cf 202 
ery of, 96; library of, 99. j 211, 212. ' ' 

Wisconsin Blue Book, 245. ,Yale college and university, 46, 76-78 

n isco?isin Democrat, the 225. 93,105,193 214 

Wisconsin Hights, battle of, 197. j Yankees, the, 39; versatility of 251 

H tsconsm Historical Collections, Vol. lY-en-dats, 2. 
VIII., 24,57,64, 75; Vol., III.,' Tellow Lake, 157, 158, 160 275 
25, 203; Vol., II., 60, 64, 121, 180; , Yellow river (Iowa), 183 207 

Vol., IV., 69, 72, 143; Vol XL, 156; lYoghum, Captain , 75. 

Vol., IX., 186; Vol., X., 189; VoL.lYork (Toronto), 164 

^"•' 210, 219. lYork Fort (Hudson's Bay), 41. 

J\isconsin, Columbian History of Ed u-Zehev (Yeizer), Captain - 40 

eatwn In, 115. ^Zlzanla a,piatlca (wild rice), 41. ' 



I 



ADVHirriSKMKNT. 



'Mfi 



More tluin one wliose cliiUlhond was spent in Wise.nishi has had the experience descrihed 
by Hamlin (Garland He found tlie lionies once in the possession of friends now the property 
of strangers -men of foreign nativity and hmguage. A part of tlie social history of our state 
has been, on the whole, a sad one. Much of it is th- story of the displacement of a population 
With this change there was brought about the extinction of many institutions- especially ot 
churches One such was the spiritual home of the writer's boyhood. The names of kindred 
of three generations are on the short roll of its membershi,.. The community wherein it was 
established, the town of Jamestown, (Jrant county, had but a meager intellectual and spirit- 
ual life but the best tliere was of it found stimulus and expression in the old church, t roni 
its pulpit there was no uncertain sound on all the great subjects of religion, and on practical 
applications of it in patrioi ism. the struggle against slavery, temperance and the keeping ot 
the Sabbath Surely, I thought, some one should write of the good that has thus been done , 
of the fathers that had come almost with the removal of the Indians, and some even before 
that time- of the soldier bovs whose funeral sermons were preached when, m the common 
course ot nature, the good pastor might rather have been pronouncing for them a marriage 
.service- and of other sons and .laughters also who had lived to make a little of the world s 
great work their own duty. To tell this .story was some one's privilege; why not mine. 1 
knew of no other claimant for the honor, and in university life one is likely to become con- 
.sciouB of the impulse to make some little field of work distinctively his own. 

For when I came to feel thus, days at Bsloit college and at Doane w.re behind me and 1 
was spending a winter in Leipzig. At Bsloit it ha.l been my delight on Wednesday and Sat- 
urday afternoons.- the only times in the old days of limited privilege when the library was 
open -to tisli from tlie bottoms of seldom opened drawers old pamphlets bearing on the his- 
tory of the college. At Doane. with an eagerness that I still approve though I can smile no\v 
at some of its manifestations, I made it my duty to get and save for the library anything I 
could that might have historic or, indeed, any other value,- a rule that I heartily wish had 
been followed in earlier days at Beloit. 

Not so much from the schools that I attended,- in none of which did I ever hear prayer 
offered -as through the church ran the path that led me to college. There may have been 
some connectioi:, though I am not conscious of any, between my feeling of gratitude and the 
memories that, as I used to listen to the motteten in the Thomaskirche on the market place 
in Leipzig Itrought before my mental vision the old house of God where on the Sundays of 
•X Ion-past summer, often after a four miles' walk. I recited to my teacher the greater part of 
the gospel of John. However that may be. it was with the loyalty of a son and. perhaps, with 
somewhat of the interest of a .student that 1886. February 12th. 1 began, in distant Germany, 
to write the hi.storv, not yet Hnished. of a single church.- the one to which I owe so much. 
But with such a topic who could withhold himself from speaking of the mingling and com- 
mingling of the coining and the going, of the currents of humanity that finally made up the 
population of the lead region? Moreover, across the diminishing but always majestic Missis- 
sippi lay what had been a part of Louisiana. These topics, and others like them, led me ou 
until this volume, different from anything originally planned, is offered to the public. 

But the original design has not been forgotten. Indeed it is in fulfilment of it, on a 
broader scale, that " In Unnamed Wisconsin " has been written. This is a narrative of pre- 
paration and of beginnings,- of that marvelous succession of changes by which the very ex- 
istence of all our civic and religious institutions became possible. Thus its genesis is natural 
enough The story of one church led to that of many, and this greater work came to include 
a narrative showing how this region became, first in name and then in reality, a part of the 
United States.- a change proplietic of another yet to come to a great portion of our people. 

Incidentally, in the progress of these studies, there came to be published not only many 
newspaper articles but also " Missions on the Chcquamsgou Bay." " Negro Slavery in Wiscon- 
sin " and " Muh-he-ka-ne ok. a History of the Stockbridge Nation." The first two of these 
were published by the Wisconsin state historical society. 

In the last-named book and in this I have sought to preserve the record of a good work 
done among a vanishing people. Le.t them speak the last words of this volume.-on the fol- 
lowing page the first part of the shorter catechism, last edition, and here, m lines like tho.se 
from which I copy, the first three beatitudes and the beginning of the third chapter of John: 
.•i. Wuli wekoiwuk neek kauk kauktoinmauk kaunthechuh 
wchichchuhqueweh ; (luaum nub wmis nuni numnawwiih wuli 
kkewaukun wuhwekoiwaukon kunnuk uhtauk. 

4. Wuh wekoiwuk cheh neek kawtumniauk taunnumme 
cht^eU quauni ncekcheh kohetommehkowwauk. 

b. Wuh wekoiwukehehneek noochmauntheeheek : iiuauin 
neekcheh nooh wkenkeyaunauwub. 

1. Neh unnomu!h (lueh neh wtiyenaup nemonnauw unne 
wethoow NicotUimus, kivv(;einioow Jews sehkoke wchoi. 



f^^-A'""'. TJT'i"" 






• THK ASSEilBLY-S 

SHORTER CATECHISM. 

1. QAcmoeaiuwdunkuil. Kauqiu nhaun uonowwaunHiawu 
nuoii ;u!t<:iinaMUs</v't ■' * 

.jlufriK-hcwai. Nook o.utDmiawusect f^bauri urmbwv/aun. 
mrtunuik, avinch atini maunioothpebhaut Pohtonrniauwavisun 
don wauv. U!n\9cknmaut }>onmcHvch. ' 

2, q. Kauq-iri Pohto0jrr.aw\vaiu fameciikonuh i-avliuhklnmi- 
maiiquiiq v.aucb aumu'auwehtijuq aun]>queh aum n.t-u nsc-otli- 
fjchliauy'Kj, don wauwuwwcldhnauyuq- . ^ 

^ A. Nik wtauptiXHUiauwauliun Pohloimnowwaus autcnn^'ik i 

i..a.ia!cel:, iieh mkhowoi wonk wsk^i nauktr.hhaxtisetup v/soiio 1 

.au;, neu mm n.raehcheli kaukuhkhuinmauqvuj aiinqueh pum :' 

rAatin-icothpehlifluyuq, don waiiwauwekelinauyjiq. ' i 

:>. Q. Kauquikuli neb w-scpn-hckun nhaun umieh kktih ^ 

cotom;' ■ ■ ■ I 

A. Nik wsoowbekun nbaim luiheli kkiihkotom taun nun 
vuihqueh wji;tbtiHBmuk nub wcheb Pohtoramauwaus, 'don 
a.iucli aootniauquq. , 

4. Q.. Tauiieek wtennoiyen nuU PohtommawKaus > I 
A, Nuk PoUtommuw warn pauqneweh wchechukkoow nnno- i 

woivo; Stub cyubquauyowtb, don stt.h pepeenwehnau^reh i 

r.caaunauiiscct, wsankbkunnulikauwaukun, oneivvaukun. don 
';naumauwaiiknn., ' - > '•" 

5. Q. Kauklioowwukaut Pobtotnmiiwwausuk^ 

A. FaMskowoow kub psooq, nub mauyauweh paupma%v- 

6. Q. I'aiui wtcnkeemqiutbtheem nuh kohcheb p'obtoi-. 

A. -Skbaunnoikeck unmiqqneb, chsch nnb wautoc-Iihemuk 
>rtiomon, uon ncen kausekbo.keh wcbebcbiiliqan; noke nkho 

kbychtcet, wonk ueh '.vcckchaunauqsowaukunnowub ^ ^ 







\^^' '\ 











v>\ 








■"% 



c5 c-- 



'/• 



^OO 






.*■ 



Ss'' 



'"^^.^ 






'%. 



-*> .'\ 









• V 






^ 



.V 



.0 















\> 



y- 









v,.<^ 



x\' '/>. 






aV^ ■'' 



A 



'^^ 









> '*, 



<;!>,_ * •, V *) 



X^^^. 



.-^^^ 









^0 o 















<'jf 



■^^ 









,-0 . 



s J -Of. 









-^.. C^^' 

^ <='... 



^^5 



\'^ 



^^- 



/■ 






^V'>'' '^.p 



'''ci-, ' 



-7'- 



o. 















1 ''■f' 






^ 



<1> "^ci. 



\0 o 



^^ * 



"b 



■^^ c-^" 



.\-^ 






%^ 



-5>c'' 



^ ^Vo' 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 495 870 6 





